Lagos moves to check quackery in assisted reproductive technology practice

State to plant 10m trees by 2020, says Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Government has inaugurated a seven-man committee to monitor, regulate and enforce quality compliance in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) practice in the state.

Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Health, Dr. Titilayo Goncalves, noted that the constitution of the committee is in line with Lagos State government’s commitment to ensure best practices in assisted fertility practice.

In a statement yesterday, she said: “The constitution of this seven-man committee is in tandem with our resolve to implement the policy document on ART regulations and practice which we unveiled recently in partnership with Association of Fertility and Reproductive Health (AFRH) and experts in fertility medicine.”

She added that the inauguration of the committee also aimed at fostering professionalism, quality assurance as well as curbing quackery in the assisted fertility practice.

Goncalves, who stated that members of the committee were drawn from private practitioners in fertility medicine, experts in the public sector, members of AFRH and officials of the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), noted that the committee is charged with the onerous task of educating, enlightening and sensitizing citizens on ART practice whilst bringing sanity through monitoring and enforcement compliance to the ART practice in the state.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday said the state government hopes to plant 10 million trees by 2020 as strong tools to check climate change and global warming.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke at the flag-off of the 2019 tree planting sensitization campaign by Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK), represented by his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, noted that the tree planting sensitization campaign aimed to ensure a cleaner, greener, healthier and safer environment.

He said that the theme for this year’s campaign, “Clean and Green is our Perfect Dream,” aptly expresses one of the key objectives of his agenda for the environment.

“The campaign is to ensure that every house in Lagos possesses at least one tree which we believe would go a long way to intensify our greening project. “Tree planting is one of the strategies to combat the effect of climate change and global warming. This initiative and its sustenance over the past years is a testimony to the foresight of previous administrations to ensure a healthy environment as well as protecting the general well-being of the citizenry.

“As we increase efforts towards ridding the state of waste, all hands must be on deck to also improve the aesthetics of the environment by adorning it with ornamental plants, beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees.“We cannot keep on ignoring climate change, which is the most significant material risk to our future. It is also the world’s most devastating threat to human survival. We can no longer pretend that we have a society at ease with itself.”