The Lagos State Government has announced that it will employ the services of franchise companies in the process of monitoring health facilities, to ensure better coverage and improvement in the quality of healthcare delivery.
Dr. Yemisi Sholanke-Koya, The Board Chairman of Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) disclosed on Thursday, that the agency will commence a Public-Private Partnership in which some of the functions of the agency are contracted to private organisations to enhance efficient service delivery.
According to her, the arrangement is in accordance with the provisions of Section 49 of the Health Sector Reform Law of 2006, which empowers the Agency to engage franchise companies to monitor health facilities and ensure compliance with set standards, adding that the move will enable the agency to focus more on other responsibilities.
“We will be engaging the services of franchise companies in our monitoring activities which are in accordance with the provisions of Section 49 of the Health Sector Reform Law. Monitoring activities will be contracted to reputable private organisations to enable us to focus mainly on activities such as accreditation of health facilities and inspection for the registration of new facilities”, she noted.
As to the fight against quackery in Lagos, the Chairman maintained that the government remains committed to winning the war against quackery, warning that any facility owner or individual engaging in quackery will be sanctioned accordingly.
She emphasised that the Agency is currently scaling up its monitoring and inspection activities to strengthen quality healthcare delivery.
Sholanke-Koya revealed that HEFAMAA is set to introduce a Health Facility Inspection Tool called ‘Health FIT’ to foster efficient and effective inspection and monitoring of health facilities in the State.
She explained that the Health FIT is an android-based application developed to make the recording of data seamless and facilitate the real-time rendition of reports to the Agency.
While giving assurance of continued commitment to quality healthcare delivery, the Chairman disclosed that the agency contributed immensely to the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, through the development of COVID-19 protocols for health facilities as well as education and sensitisation of facility owners on the need to safeguard the health of all residents.
She mentioned that the Agency displayed on its website, information, education and communication materials on COVID-19, sent text messages to registered health facilities, periodically, for necessary awareness and improvement of the knowledge of health workers about the disease, its prevention, diagnosis and proper referral process.
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