The exercise, which began yesterday and would continue to the end of the year, is to access and ensure the highest standards in the practice of allied health professionals in the various medical laboratories across the country.

The monitoring and inspection exercise is also to smoke out and apprehend quacks and persons professing to be practising professionals without licence.

The nationwide monitoring and inspection team began in Accra with the Ga East Municipal Hospital, medicas Hospital and the Pentecost Hospital.

Highest standards

The Deputy Director of Communications for the AHPC, Kweku Brobbey, said the council was guided by the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act to inspect allied health facilities and make sure all of them were conforming to the highest standards of practice.

He said the responsibility of the council was to ensure that quacks were eliminated from the allied health practice in the health delivery system and assured the citizenry of quality health service.

"Our main goal is for Ghanaians to be confident with the health facilities and be assured of quality and high standard of service across the country," he said.

Mr Brobbey said the exercise would also involve not just health facilities but  health professionals, as well as make sure  they conformed to all the standards set.

He, however, cautioned that sanctions would be applied if the hospitals and health professionals did not meet the standards and went against patients safety.

"The Act that mandates us to do this inspection also has sanctions for those who do not meet these standards and we will go by that," he said.

Caution

A technical inspector with the inspection team, Dr Philip Adom Yeboah, said the team would be looking out for members of the AHPC who were of good standing.

"Now there's a law that requires them to be of good standing and to be aligned with the standards of the council and that is what we would be looking out for," he added.

He further cautioned members of the council, who had not been licensed, to get their licences and be registered with the council to ensure high standard of services.