…trains Franchisees on Monitoring Processes, Procedures
The Executive Secretary of Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) Dr. Abiola Idowu has acknowledged the contributions of the various Health Franchisees engaged by the Agency in expanding the scope of monitoring and compliance by operators of both public and private health facilities.
Speaking during a training programme for staff of HEFAMAA Franchisee organisations on Wednesday in Lagos, she revealed that about 83 per cent of health facilities in Lagos State were covered in 2023 during the routine compliance monitoring of health facilities in the State.
According to her, the improvement was made possible as a result of the engagement of the franchisee companies by the agency, saying that the franchisees have justified their engagement by the state government.
In her words: “Before we decided to engage franchisee organisations to complement our efforts in the area of monitoring and compliance, we realised that we could only achieve below 50 per cent coverage of health facilities in Lagos. This does not only negate the provisions of the 2006 Health Sector Reform Law but will also hinder the attainment of quality health care delivery to residents of Lagos State”.
While saying that the target of HEFAMAA is to record 100 coverage and compliance in line with the 2006 Health Sector Reform Law, the Executive Secretary said that the Agency had further increased the numbers of its franchisees to achieve total coverage of all health facilities in Lagos State by the end of the year.
“As stated in the 2006 Health Sector Reform Law, the relevant government agencies or its franchisees must be able to tour all health facilities under their jurisdiction at least twice in a year or every quarter. Before we engaged franchisees, HEFAMAA on its own could only visit these health facilities once a year and in some cases, some health facilities are not visited”.
Idowu added that the reports and feedback received from the franchisees made it possible for the State Government to know the real situation of the various health facilities in the State including their staff strength, qualification of health personnel, and available medical equipment, among others.
She explained that the training of the franchisees will further expose the participants, especially the newly engaged franchisees to the monitoring processes, procedures, and HEFAMAA standards and also introduce them to the relevant sections of the Health Sector Reform Law as related to the agency.
She stated that through this training initiative, franchisees will gain a deeper understanding of the monitoring protocols, assessment criteria and quality standards set by HEFAMAA to enhance the overall quality of healthcare services provided by health facilities and ensure the well-being of patients.
“By maintaining a robust monitoring system, HEFAMAA aims to identify areas for improvement, address any deficiencies, and ultimately enhance the quality of healthcare services across Lagos State”, she added
One of the franchisees, Mr. Tunde Oladapo Dickson said that despite the efforts of HEFAMAA, there is still a need for the agency to collaborate with franchisees organisations for a more effective and efficient monitoring exercise.
He informed that the exercise has unravelled some unethical practices in the health sector by unregistered practitioners and the need for government to sanction unprofessional conduct in the profession.
He said: “What HEFAMAA is doing is a good step in the right direction. The agency has attested to the visible difference seen since we the franchisees came on board last year. I am also hopeful that with the joint efforts of HEFAMAA total sanity will be restored to the health sector”.
Another franchisee representing Eclat, Dr. Adaku Udeaja observed that the rate at which professional medical practitioners are leaving the country for greener pastures in other climes is alarming and called for concern.
She said that the development which must be urgently addressed by the government is taking its toll on the number of available certified health professionals in most of the health facilities visited.