4 Clinics closed down in Kumasi

Lake Road Clinic, a famous private health centre at Atonsu in Kumasi, has been closed down for non-compliance with the relevant health regulatory regime.

Operators of the centre have consequently been arrested by the Kumasi Central Police Command for breaching the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Act 829), established under the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA).

A combined taskforce made up of police officers, ambulance service staff, and personnel of HeFRA also closed down three other health centres identified in the metropolis for similar violations of the law.

They are De-Castro Home Care at Aboabo, well known for its claims about the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases; Krispat Hearing Centre Ghana Limited at Oforikrom; and Echoscan Diagnostic Centre located at the entrance of the Tafo Government Hospital in Kumasi.

All the four institutions were said to be operating without the required permit.

The Chief Executive Officer of HeFRA, Dr Phillip Bannor, said all the affected institutions were given more than six months’ notice to register with the agency but failed to do so.

Lake Road Clinic

At the Lake Road Clinic — which operates from a three-bedroom self-contained building in the neighbourhood of the Kumasi High School Junction — three persons who had come to consult the “medical doctor” were advised to leave and seek proper health care elsewhere.

Indeed, the taskforce realised that the facility was not operating with a license, while the general environment looked unkempt and unhygienic.

Dr Bannor, who led the inspection team, expressed disgust about conditions at the centre, describing the environment as "a miserable situation".

He said "there’s nothing to show that the facility has made any attempt to procure a licence" as the team retrieved rusty diagnostic and operating kits, including scissors and a steriliser, at the facility.

Dr Bannor said a lady had earlier visited the centre as a “mystery client”, and it was upon the revelations from that visit that the team embarked upon the operation to find out more.

Necessary action

Briefing the media after the exercise, Dr Bannor said the exercise became necessary because some health institutions were operating under unacceptable standards, while many of them were either not licensed or registered with the agency.

He said it was regrettable that several attempts made by the agency to get them to comply with the law fell on deaf ears, adding that HeFRA would no longer allow such facilities to continue to flout the law with impunity.

He appealed to the public to support the agency by reporting any health establishment suspected to be operating without a licence.