The Cross Rivers State Task Force on Health Quality and Anti-Quackery Committee has sealed off a private maternity facility, Safe Hand’s Maternity Clinic, in Calabar Municipality following the reported death of a patient after surgery.
The team, led by its chairman Dr Dan Abubakar, paid an unscheduled visit to Safe Hand’s Maternity Clinic, located at No. 21 Iyata Street, after a petition linking the death of a patient after an operation conducted at the facility.
The clinic, run by Mrs Inyang Ekeng, a Community Health Extention Officer was discovered to be a 3-bedroom apartment converted into a 6-bed maternity ward without any licensed nurses.
Investigators revealed that surgeries were being conducted by Dr Sunday Abeng, a Registrar with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital UCTH in what they described as a poorly equipped and substandard environment.
It was also discovered that the centre was operating beyond its scope and even admitted an abandoned stroke patient in the facility.
The facility was sealed for other reasons including lack of operational licenses, inadequate office and standard consulting rooms for doctors, poor ventilation, no staff record and register of cases handled by the clinic, no documentation for registration of patients, no theatre registration showing the number of patients so far operated on, unhygienic environments, poor waste disposal systems, and employment of unqualified personnel.
Reacting to the findings, the Chairman of the State Task Force on Health Quality and Anti-Quackery Committee, Dr Dan Abubakar expressed deep concern and disappointment at the conditions observed at the facility, describing it as “potential death traps” that endanger the lives of unsuspecting citizens.
He emphasized that the Ministry, in line with the vision of the Executive Governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu will not tolerate the continued operation of such substandard and illegal clinics.
“The Governor is currently facelifting and constructing modern, well-equipped health centres across the state. Residents are strongly encouraged to seek care at these approved government facilities rather than risk their lives with quack operators,” he stated.
Dr Abubakar warned that patronizing unaccredited clinics is tantamount to a suicide mission, considering the dangerous and unsanitary conditions under which many operate.
The facility was sealed, and the owner of the facility and doctor was accorded the time to evacuate all inpatients.
The Cross River State Government’s decisive action highlights its commitment to ensuring the delivery of quality healthcare services and protecting the lives of its citizens by clamping down on unregistered and unfit health facilities within the state
