Edo State Government on Tuesday threatened to fine and permanently close health facilities over failure to meet stipulated health standards in the state.

Dr Adesuwa Urhoghide-Edigin, Chief Executive Officer, Edo State Health Regulatory and Monitoring Agency (EDOHERMA), who issued the threats in Benin on Tuesday while briefing journalists, disclosed that more 20 health facilities sealed in the state for not meeting stipulated standard are currently taking steps to correct the identified inadequacies.

She stressed that the enforcement exercise was not designed merely to punish health facility operators but to ensure compliance and protect patients.

Urhoghide-Edigin, while noting that EDOHERMA is the statutory agency responsible for regulating and monitoring healthcare standards across Edo State, noted that the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo was committed to ensuring that Edo residents have access to healthcare facilities that meet approved standards.

According to her, some of the facilities earlier sealed were not registered with the Edo State Government, while others had obtained registration but failed to maintain the standards under which they were initially registered.

She said: “Even in the sealing we have been doing, we are also encouraging such facilities to know that we are not all punitive and that we are also supportive. Over 20 for now are doing what we have already asked them to do and, when they finish, we are also going to come back to the public to say this XYZ facility has done better.”

“That is why we are revalidating,” she said, adding that the exercise would enable the agency to establish the actual status and compliance level of healthcare facilities across the state.

The EDOHERMA boss, however, warned that facilities that refuse to upgrade or persistently operate below approved standards would face permanent closure, while the agency is also set to introduce enforcement fines for defaulters.

“We are going to close permanently those that fail to upgrade their health standard,” she declared, stressing that enforcement would be balanced with support for operators willing to comply.

She said the agency was currently undertaking enumeration and revalidation of health facilities across the 18 local government areas, adding that the exercise would also expose outright quack facilities operated by unlicensed persons.

“Some of these facilities, there are no doctors there, and that cannot be a hospital. What we are trying to do is for everybody to stick to their scope of services,” she said.

According to her, EDOHERMA’s mandate extends beyond private hospitals and clinics to include health-related facilities such as orphanages and shelters, as well as public secondary hospitals and primary healthcare centres.

She further added that the agency would identify deficiencies in public facilities and work with those responsible to address them, noting that regulation was necessary to ensure that standards were maintained across the board.

Urhoghide-Edigin said the agency’s approach was collaborative and required the support of healthcare operators, the public and the media.

“It is either you are standard or not, and that is where our categorisation comes in,” she said, stressing that the ultimate objective was to protect patients and improve healthcare delivery across the state.