CONTRAVENTION: LSTMB SEALS PREMISES OF PRACTITIONERS FOR FLOUTING REGULATORY LAW
The Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board (LSTMB) has started sealing up premises of Traditional Medicine Practitioners for continued violation of rules and regulations guiding the practice in the State. Those affected include Traditional Birth Attendants, Faith-Based Healers and Bone Setters.
The exercise, which was carried out in collaboration with the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, affected no fewer than seven practitioners, in Mushin, Somolu and Bariga environs.
Speaking during the exercise, the Registrar of the Board, Mr. Olorunkemi Olawale Kadiku, explained that the exercise was long overdue following expiration of the March deadline given to allow the practitioners to register with the State Government.
Explaining that the exercise, being conducted in compliance with the directive of the National Council of Health, was not taken seriously by the affected persons, the Registrar disclosed that the affected practitioners had already been issued abatement notices.
Kadiku stated that the sealed premises had been operating their facilities without approval and licence to practice in the State despite several pleas from the State Government.
“Faith-Based Healers under which Pentecostal Churches operate also have to register so far they have Birth Attendant facilities. All practices relating to traditional medicine, birth attendants, faith-based healing, bone setting and the like, have to be done within the ambience of the law of the State, as recommended by the National Body on Health”, he said.
Speaking further at another location in Mushin, the Registrar, who led the enforcement team, said a situation where practitioners operate in a dirty environment and willingly test the patience and magnanimity of government by flagrantly contravening the law will no longer be tolerated, assuring that the agency will do everything within the law to sanitise the practice of traditional medicine in the State.
One of the Birth Attendants, who has refused to register despite a series of warnings and abatement notices, was handed over to the police at the Nigeria Police, Area D Command, Mushin, for prosecution to serve as a deterrent to others.
SA/OS
