By STEVEN ZANDE –

.HPCZ

THE Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ) has shut down Lusaka’s Fairview Hospital for stocking and dispensing expired drugs and for using three unlicensed doctors, among other offences.
Fairview Hospital has further been cited for using expired reagents in its laboratory, which means test results from the facility were unreliable.
The hospital has 14 days in which to appeal the closure.
The council has instructed Fairview to stop accepting fresh clients while existing patients should be relocated to an alternative health facility where they will continue receiving safe treatment while the matter was being addressed.
This came to light yesterday when a team of eight HPCZ inspectors in the company of Lusaka City Council officials undertook a routine compliance inspection at the hospital.
“What the hospital has been doing poses grave harm to patients and we warn that if Fairview doesn’t agree to the charges, we will take them to court,” HPCZ legal counsel Frank Lungu told the media.
Mr Lungu said the council had taken the decision to close the hospital with a view to protect the public, explaining expired medicines caused a serious risk to the health of patients.
HPCZ senior public relations officer Terry Musonda thanked members of the public for being alert and warned the council was ready to uproot illegalities in health care administration.
Mr Musonda said the case of Fairview hospital should send a warning to healthcare providers that were in the habit of operating outside the provisions of the law that the law would catch up would them.