May 28, 2022
The Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, (HEFAMAA), has released guidelines for investigating complaints about health facilities from members of the public to facilitate justice and the protection of public health.
The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr. Abiola Idowu, who stated this today in her office at Alausa, Ikeja, explained that the template would educate the public on the process of registering their grievances with the Agency for prompt action.
She added that the rate at which the Agency is receiving complaints against healthcare providers has reduced considerably to about two or three petitions in a month compared to the high rates in previous years.
“This can be attributed to the regular monitoring visits to health facilities by the Agency, which has encouraged a lot of the health facilities operating in the State to register with the Agency”, the Executive Secretary said.
Her words: “Petitions or complaints belonging to special categories that require urgent intervention by the Agency may not necessarily be investigated by following the template. The Agency may follow other steps so as to ensure speedy investigation of the issues or allegations to facilitate justice and the protection of public health”.
The template/guidelines listed by the Executive Secretary for addressing the complaints or issues brought forth are: Receipt of petitions from individuals, families, Health Facilities, members of the public etcetera; Notification of Petitioner to acknowledge receipt of petition and assurance that investigation is in progress; Letter is written to the Health Facility for its response to the petition and visit to Health Facility for preliminary investigation and monitoring.
Others include Request for a Case Summary Report from the Health Facility as well as a copy of the Case Notes, relevant Protocols and Records during the visit; Meeting with the Petitioner to gather more facts and to clarify certain aspects of the petition requiring clarification; Meeting with the Health Facility against which the petition was written; Meetings with the two parties (if necessary) and Engagement of the relevant consultant to assist with the conduction of the investigation (if required).
“Communication of the outcome of the investigation to the Health Facility in form of a Warning Letter, Reprimand Letter, Sanction Letter e.g. downgrading, closure of facility; Implementation of recommended sanctions e.g. downgrading, closure of the facility, reporting of health worker to the relevant regulatory council or body and follow-up to ensure recommended corrections of infractions are implemented”, she added.
