The Gombe State Government says it has cleared seven out of the 17 closed private colleges of health and technology in the state after complying with stipulated medical standards by the regulatory bodies.
Mr Zubairu Umar, Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice who is the Chairman of the committee set up to review and revalidate such health institutions, stated this at a briefing in Gombe on Monday.
Umar, who addressed newsmen shortly after the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting, presided over by Gov Inuwa Yahaya, said the decision to reopen the health tertiary institutions was reached at SEC.
He stated that the remaining 10 institutions would remain closed until the conditions for accreditation were met to ensure that only professionals were produced by the institutions.
He stated that the action taken by the state government to close the institutions was in the best interest of citizens of the state.
“This government is very much concerned about the welfare and health of its citizens and that’s why we took the necessary action to protect our citizenry.’’
Umar said the committee went round the 17 institutions to assess their files, number of students as well as verify their facilities to ensure they were up to standard.
According to him, the committee, having assessed the status of the institutions, was satisfied with the accreditation and status of seven out of the 17 sealed in March.
“These seven institutions are Fountain College of Health Science and Technology, Tumfure; Conformance College of Health Science and Technology, Billiri; Garkuwa College of Health Science and Technology, Gombe.
Others are Lamido School of Hygiene, Liji; Ummah College of Health Science and Technology; Dukku International College of Health Science and Technology and Haruna Rashid College of Health Science and Technology, Dukku.”
The commissioner said the council, based on the report of the committee, had accepted and ordered the immediate reopening of the schools to continue their operations.
He, however, cautioned the schools to continue operations based on the courses the committee had certified to have met the requirements and not to go beyond the certified courses.
He added that the other 10 schools would remain closed while students of those institutions were advised to relocate to schools with licences.
Explaining further, the state’s Commissioner for Health, Habu Dahiru, said the parameters used by government in assessing the institutions included accreditation with regulatory bodies, provision of standard structures like classrooms, laboratories and demonstration rooms.
Dahiru listed others to include the provision of clinics, library and e-learning facilities as well as the environment, regarding the security of students and staff.
He assured that the closed schools would be considered as soon as improvements on their status were made to fulfil the necessary requirements.
“They will also get permission to operate but for now, they fall short of the requirements.’’
Gombe State Government had in March, shut down all private colleges of health in the state over lack of accreditation and registration.
The action, according to the government is aimed at checkmating quackery among the health workers in the state.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
