Kano Shuts Down 35 Private Health Facilities Over Regulatory Violations

The Kano State Private Health Institutions Management Agency (PHIMA) has shut down more than 35 private health facilities in the state over regulatory violations in the past 12 months.

The Acting Director-General of PHIMA, Hajiya Khadijah Sa’id, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano on Tuesday.

Sa’id, who also serves as the agency’s Director of Administration and General Services, said the closures were part of efforts to enforce healthcare standards and protect residents from unsafe medical practices.

She identified operating without a licence, failure to renew annual registration and employing unqualified personnel as some of the major violations uncovered during routine inspections.

“We sanctioned over 100 facilities for one mistake or the other. But those that committed gross violations that we cannot overlook, we shut down over 35,” she said.

Sa’id explained that some facilities were temporarily closed to allow their proprietors to correct the violations identified by inspectors before resuming operations.

However, she warned that facilities found guilty of serious breaches could be permanently delisted, while their proprietors would be barred from using their professional licences to register other facilities.

“Once a facility is delisted, it will not be registered again. The person holding the professional licence will also not be allowed to register another facility,” she said.

She said PHIMA’s regulatory responsibilities covered private hospitals, clinics, nursing and maternity homes, diagnostic laboratories, dental centres, beauty salons, spas, fitness centres and practitioners of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine.

Sa’id added that the agency worked with other government institutions and security operatives to identify and shut down illegal health facilities across the state.

She cited a recent operation by an inter-agency task force established by Governor Abba Yusuf, which found that a clinic previously sealed and delisted by PHIMA had reopened at another location.

The acting director-general said the agency was strengthening routine inspections to ensure compliance with licensing requirements and professional standards across Kano State’s 44 local government areas.

She added that increased funding and the provision of operational vehicles would enable PHIMA to expand its inspection coverage and improve enforcement across the state.

Sa’id urged operators of private health facilities to obtain the necessary licences, renew their registrations promptly and ensure that only qualified personnel provide healthcare services.