COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE EXPECTATIONS OF HEFAMAA

October 10, 2020 - by admin - 98 Comments.

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DR ABIOLA IDOWU – ES HEFAMAA

COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE EXPECTATIONS OF HEFAMAA

“Finally, the owners of the health facilities in Lagos State have been told what the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) expects from them during this Covid-19 Pandemic, when the Executive Secretary of this highly esteemed Agency spoke at a recently organized seminar by IMDA and ISN products”

According to Dr Abiola Idowu, the Executive Secretary of HEFAMAA, the agency has put in place measures to combat the continued spread of the virus. She pointed these out during the virtual seminar organized by Initiative for Medical Diagnostic Awareness (IMDA) in conjunction with ISN Products Limited on Tuesday 28th September, 2020.

Parts of the steps include dissemination of up-to-date public health notices to all health facilities through HEFAMAA website.

Site Inspections to assess the biosafety and biosecurity compliance, IPC Preparedness and capacities of health facilities that are willing to serve as sample collection centres, holding centres, isolation and treatment centres for COVID-19 cases.

Approval of laboratories and facilities for testing, diagnosis, holding and treatment of COVID-19 patients as applicable.

Ensuring immediate decontamination of health facilities exposed to COVID-19 Patients

Issuance of Cease and Desist Notice to health facilities that are testing/treating COVID-19 patients without approval

The Executive Secretary added that all health facilities must assume overall responsibility to ensure that all necessary preventive and protective measures are taken to minimize health workers safety and health risks.

That they must have a written protocol for preventing, identifying, monitoring and reporting COVID-19 among the facility patients and staff.

The facilities must have the following provision in place, triage station(s), adequate ventilation and illumination, appropriate hand-washing facilities and hand-hygiene supplies, appropriate waste management, have adequate supplies of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and practice Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures within the facility.

She did not forget to give the conditions for those facilities that may be interested in participating as a laboratory or a collection center.

Such facilities must have the functional RT-PCR machine(s).

The Laboratories should have valid registration with relevant national authorities and HEFAMAA to perform diagnostic testing.

All staff working in the laboratory should be appropriately trained and registered with the appropriate bodies.

Laboratories and sample collection centres must provide all required staff with PPEs and laboratory consumables required for sample collection/ testing

Laboratories and sample collection centres must be willing to participate in and abide by the guidelines of the state’s proposed framework for the inclusion of private laboratories in COVID-19 response.

Dr Idowu enjoined the professional bodies to collaborate with HEFAMAA with a view to eliminating the pandemic by ensuring that all COVID-19 Response guidelines are adhered to by their members.

She finally commended the organizers of this seminar most especially Prof Kolawole Oyedeji who is the Chairman of IMDA and Mr Felix Ofungwu, the Executive Director of ISN for such a brilliant and informative seminar.

Adekoya Abimbola Julius.