The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Illiyasu, has said ritual killers source body parts from operators of illegal health facilities, Punch reports.
Illayasu spoke on Monday at the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Ogun State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The police boss, who was represented by the Officer-In-Charge of Medicals, Ogun State Police Command, DSP Shola Oguntoye, said, “Quackery in the health sector is bigger than what we all think and that is why it must be addressed. Ritual killers now connive with quacks to source body parts for their activities. The danger they pose is more than what we can imagine. We take patients to the nearest hospitals when accidents occur; we need to know which hospital is accredited or not so that we can save lives during emergencies.”
The state NMA Chairman, Dr Abayomi Olajide, said despite the association’s efforts to rid Ogun of quacks, they still existed, especially on the outskirts of the state.
The NMA chairman said the theme of the conference, ‘Anti-quackery: A Seemingly Unending Battle,’ was chosen to seek more collaboration with law enforcement agencies, the media and other stakeholders in the sector on how best to tackle the menace.
In his keynote address, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Dr Adegboyega Ogunwale, who described quacks as charlatans, called on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to ensure that offenders were prosecuted to deter others who might want to engage in the illegal business.
Ogunwale also urged his colleagues to stop engaging unqualified personnel in their clinics.
According to him, such persons often understudied doctors to set up illegal centres.
He said, “You don’t engage auxiliary nurses and say you are going to train them. It is not apprenticeship.”
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