by Rachel Ogbu

66 illegal healthcare centres in Ogun state have been sealed, the Ogun State Government has announced.

Yesterday it was also revealed that fake drugs worth N1.5 million were destroyed too as the State Commissioner for Health, Olaokun Soyinka lamented that the menace of under-qualified and fake healthcare practitioners and businesses of all types takes a terrible toll on the health of Ogun indigenes.

[READ: Rough rider: NAFDAC nabs trader in Lagos with N106m fake condoms, drugs (PICTURED) ]

Soyinka, who spoke in Abeokuta during the 2013 ministerial press briefing to mark Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s second year in office pledged that the government was going to prosecute offenders.

“We are in the middle of prosecuting. But, fortunately or unfortunately, they have asked for out-of-court settlement. We are hoping to ensure that we pursue them to a logical conclusion,” he said.

“The prosecution is to act as deterrent for others. We are going to prosecute where we feel there is a criminal activity to send a message to others. They are killing people and definitely some people are going to face sanction.”

According to reports, the government also revealed that it would soon conduct a mass burial for unclaimed corpses in various public hospitals, which were deposited following roads accidents in various parts of the state.

The Vanguard reports:

According to the commissioner, plans are on top gear to prevent proliferation of quacks and illegal health centres in the state, through regular inspection of premises and computerisation of medical and health-related business.

On the planned mass burial for unclaimed corpses, Soyinka said the exercise was long overdue.

He added that though he could not give the exact number of unclaimed corpses in various public hospitals in the state.

Soyinka said: “The answer is, yes, we are going to do mass burial, but we are going to do it properly.”