To gain accurate and quality diagnostics practices,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President, has admonished West African
Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science and the Nigerian Medical Laboratory
scientists, to ensure conducive laboratory environment in West Africa the region as well as provide highly skilled professionals.
Affirming the charge recently, was Professor
Osinbajo, while announcing open the 2020 Congress of the West African Postgraduate
College of Medical Laboratory Science (WAPCMLS) and induction/investiture of
its Fellows in Lagos.
Osinbajo emphasised on the importance of accurate
and reliable laboratory diagnosis in the prevention and control of diseases.
Represented by Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of
State for Health, he noted that medical laboratory services are vital
components of a quality healthcare system and continues to play a vital role in
disease prevention, detection, surveillance and patient management.
“The medical laboratory professional is an
indispensable partner in providing and ensuring optimal health care. As this a new cadre of laboratory professionals is birthed in the country, I am expecting
it will not only ensure the availability of highly skilled professionals but I
also expect them to ensure the laboratory environment is peaceful.”
While commending West African Health Organisation
(WAHO) for the establishment of West African Postgraduate College of Medical
Laboratory Science, he added that it would harmonise the development of medical
laboratory human resources across the ECOWAS region and Cameroon.
The theme of the Congress was; “The role of Medical
Laboratory Professionals in the Successful Implementation of Universal Health
Coverage in the ECOWAS region.”
In his address, Prof. Stanley Okolo,
Director-General of WAHO, said Nigeria and other African countries should
intensify efforts to make medical laboratory services accessible through
public-funded health insurance schemes, as the countries move towards universal
coverage of health services.
Okolo added that with a strong political will, the
combination of diagnostic capacity, access to essential healthcare services
will become available in low and middle-income countries like ours.
He called on development partners to collaborate
with the government of Member States and especially the West African Postgraduate
College of Medical Laboratory Science and other similar postgraduate and
research institutions to carry out further specific researches on arresting the
progressing cases of emerging and re-emerging diseases like Coronavirus, cancer
and neglected tropical diseases in order to reduce the case fatality rate of
this disease conditions.
“When diagnostics are not acknowledged as an essential
component of the healthcare system, they get little attention, budget, and
support for implementation.
If tests are not explicitly listed in national
health plans or benefits packages, there is no mechanism for procurement,
supply, and reimbursement. The consequences of underinvestment in diagnostics
and laboratories are clear.”
Contributing, Mr Lawrence Lawson, Director-General
of the Ghana Health Service, said without quality laboratory services, no the health system can be resilient.
“A health system without adequate and quality
laboratory service is like a tree without root and a hospital without a the well-equipped laboratory is incomplete and cannot be considered a hospital.
There can be no universal health coverage without
the appropriate investment in quality laboratory service and that includes
investing in the human resource, their liberty and independence to be
innovative.”
While addressing newsmen shortly after the congress,
Dr. Godswill Okara, Registrar of the college, expressed the preparedness of the
college to collaborate with the Economic Community of West African States,
ECOWAS, to tackle quackery in the profession.
Okara, who said 216 Foundation Fellows of the
College was inducted, observed that for the African region to standardise the practice
of the profession, the collaboration cannot be over-emphasised.
Okara said fake laboratory scientists are everywhere
in Nigeria, adding that the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of
Nigeria (AMLSN) has tried severally to carry out an inspection on all
laboratory facilities in Nigeria, but there has been some form of resistance.
“We have noticed that if 10 people go to a
laboratory to test for malaria, nine persons out of the 10, would be diagnosed
with malaria and typhoid. Malaria and Typhoid are over-diagnosed; over-treated
in Nigeria.
“To tackle that issue, there was a time when the
AMLSN taskforce went on an inspection of laboratory facilities in Nigeria,
which is in line with the law, but many private clinics resisted them. They started
calling the federal ministry of health, and before we knew, the special team
was asked to step down.
“So with that kind of situation, when authorities
who are supposed to hold these people accountable of their actions, are the
ones protecting them, the innocent public will be at the receiving end,” he
added. The 216 foundation fellows were drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, Cote
d’Ivoire, Liberia, Togo, Gambia and Cameroon.
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