The Criminal Court Division of the Accra High Court has ordered the Advanced Body Sculpt Centre, also known as the Obengfo Hospital in Accra, to cease operations.
This comes after the hospital filed a lawsuit to prevent the Health Facilities and Regulatory Agency (HEFRA) from closing it down for operating without a license.
HEFRA closed down the Obengfo Hospital and three other health centers as part of its regulatory enforcement actions.
However, Obengfo said that HEFRA lacked the authority to shut down the Advanced Body Sculpt Centre, which is situated near Weija junction in Accra.
Through a writ of mandamus, its CEO sought a court order forcing HEFRA to grant him a license so that he could run his health institution.
However, the court ruled that Obengfo Hospital did not get its license early enough and that HEFRA acted within its authority by closing down the hospital for operating without a license.
Meanwhile, in an interview, HEFRA Registrar Dr. Philip Bannor said that the court has confirmed the closure of the Obengfo Hospital and that the ruling now allows for a substantive case against the facility’s owner, Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh, for operating without a license.
“We undertook an exercise to close down a number of facilities in Accra and Kumasi. Obengfo is one of the facilities and he took legal action to challenge our closure of his facility and compel us to grant him a license. He brought it to the Accra High Court, criminal court. He lost that case and so it clears the way for the substantive case to continue. The substantive case is a criminal case that he is practicing without license in an unauthorized facility,” he said.
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