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Christabel Ayiram, the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HEFRA), has announced that the agency will shut down over 200 unlicensed health facilities in the Ashanti Region.
According to Christabel Ayiram, HeFRA has begun a large-scale crackdown on unlicensed and non-compliant health facilities in the Ashanti Region.
Speaking to JoyNews, HeFRA’s Public Relations Officer, Christabel Ayiram, stated, “Both today and tomorrow, we are locking down facilities that are unlicensed. So any facility that is unlicensed by HEFRA, we are coming after you”.
“We are advising those who are unlicensed that they should come to the HEFRA office. We are at Adum, opposite Opoku Trading. And then there’s a team on standby. Once you meet all the requirements, they’ll do an inspection,” Ms Ayiram stated.
She added, “Because it’s a special exercise, we have a team on standby that will do the inspection for you. And once we do the inspection for you, and you meet our requirements, your facility will be open to the public. That is the only thing that will save anybody. Aside that, it is no license, no operations for our facility”.
According to her, there are over 200 unlicensed health facilities that will be closing down.
She warned, “For the Ashanti region, the facilities that are not licensed—there are more than 200. And we’ll close all of them down. All of them. We are not even sparing one. So once you are not licensed, we are coming after you. So just come and get your license with HEFRA”.
“Especially the dental facilities. Even though they don’t call themselves a clinic. Most of the people who practice in those facilities are not even like practitioners. I don’t even know how they… I think some of them claim they learnt on their job. Some of them claim their mothers taught them, their fathers taught them. And, I mean, these are people’s health. You don’t do that with people’s health”.
“So we are coming after all of them. So they should just come to HEFRA and do the right thing. We are regulators. We don’t take pleasure in locking down facilities. But where you are wrong, because it has to do with people’s health, we will take you on,” Ms Ayiram emphasised.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA), Dr Winfred Baah, has announced that the agency has shut down 17 health facilities across Ghana.
The 17 health facilities have been shut down for operating without valid licences or under unsafe conditions that pose risks to public health.
According to HeFRA, the move is part of a nationwide inspection intended to identify and sanction facilities operating without proper authorisation or documentation.
HeFRA highlighted that operating outside the regulatory framework endangers lives.
Speaking at a media briefing, Dr Winfred Baah stated, “Some of these facilities have been particularly defiant. They’ve ignored administrative fines and failed to renew their licences. Once a facility becomes unlicensed, we cannot vouch for the competence of its staff or the safety of the equipment being used”.
“When that happens, we must step in to protect the public. HeFRA is currently restructuring to strengthen our ability to regulate health facilities effectively,” he added.
Dr Winfred Baah added that the agency is committed to upholding quality healthcare standards.
HeFRA urged all health facility operators to adhere strictly to licensing and operational requirements.