Ogun Shuts 66 Illegal Hospitals, Burns Fake Drugs – Ogun State Government, yesterday, disclosed that it had destroyed fake drugs worth N1.5 million and shut down 66 illegal healthcare centres across the state.
The government also revealed that it would soon conduct a mass burial for unclaimed corpses in various public hospitals, which were deposited following roads accidents in various parts of the state.
State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, stated these while addressing newsmen in Abeokuta during the 2013 ministerial press briefing to mark Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s second year in office.
Soyinka lamented that the menace of under-qualified and fake healthcare practitioners and businesses of all types takes a terrible toll on the health of Ogun indigenes, pledging that the government was going to prosecute offenders.
According to the commissioner, plans are on top gear to prevent proliferation of quacks and illegal health centres in the state, through regular inspection of premises and computerisation of medical and health-related business.
He said: “We are in the middle of prosecuting. But, fortunately or unfortunately, they have asked for out-of-court settlement. We are hoping to ensure that we pursue them to a logical conclusion.
“The prosecution is to act as deterrent for others. We are going to prosecute where we feel there is a criminal activity to send a message to others. They are killing people and definitely some people are going to face sanction.
On the planned mass burial for unclaimed corpses, Soyinka said the exercise was long overdue.
He added that though he could not give the exact number of unclaimed corpses in various public hospitals in the state.
Soyinka said: “The answer is, yes, we are going to do mass burial, but we are going to do it properly.”
