Refer patients beyond your expertise, LASG tells doctors

Executive Secretary of the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, Victoria Egunjobi.

The Lagos State Government has warned private medical practitioners against treating conditions outside their professional competence, urging them to refer patients to specialists rather than risk avoidable deaths and complications through inappropriate medical care.

The Executive Secretary of the Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, Dr Victoria Egunjobi, gave the warning during a meeting with the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners in Lagos, according to a statement obtained by The PUNCH on Sunday.

Egunjobi also urged private practitioners to help the state identify unqualified operators and facilities, asking members of the association to provide information on individuals and centres involved in quackery.

She said cooperation between practitioners and the agency was necessary to sanitise the health sector and ensure that healthcare providers complied with established standards.

The warning comes as the agency seeks greater self-regulation within the private health sector, where practitioners are expected to recognise the limits of their training and seek specialist intervention when a patient’s condition requires expertise beyond their own.

At the meeting, the chairman of the association’s Lagos State chapter, Dr Olusola Ogunleye, said its newly inaugurated executive officers had visited the agency to establish areas of collaboration and seek solutions to challenges confronting private medical practitioners.

She raised concerns over multiple taxation, access to professional training and capacity-building opportunities, and the possibility of making membership of the association a condition for registering private health facilities with HEFAMAA.

Ogunleye also asked the agency to simplify facility registration, harmonise waste management charges through engagement with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority and standardise inspection procedures.

Responding, Egunjobi said the issues raised would receive consideration, but stressed that the agency’s priority remained an orderly and properly regulated health system that protects patients.

She called for a culture of self-reporting and self-regulation among practitioners, alongside sustained cooperation with the agency.

The Director of Monitoring and Inspection, Dr Ibom A. Godswill, and the Director of Research and Statistics, Dr Olonire Olorunfemi, also urged private practitioners to secure the required registration before commencing operations, renew their licences when due and comply with regulatory standards.

The agency said it would continue engaging stakeholders to strengthen oversight of health facilities and promote safe healthcare delivery across Lagos.