Posted by The Port Harcourt Telegraph on
As part of its effort to sanitize medical laboratory practice in the country and reposition the profession on a path for greater credibility, the governing board of Medical Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) kick-started its laboratory inspection campaign in Port Harcourt, Thursday, July 21, 2005.
As part of its effort to sanitize medical laboratory practice in the country and reposition the profession on a path for greater credibility, the governing board of Medical Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) kick-started its laboratory inspection campaign in Port Harcourt, Thursday, July 21, 2005.
In his address at the occasion, the chairman of the council, Professor Dennis Edo Agbonlahor, recalled the resolve and promise of the council at the inception of its tenure this year to fight quackery in all its ramifications for professional discipline to ensure that Nigerians received the best quality health services.
The council, he stated, was of the belief that factors responsible for erroneous diagnosis could be addressed by putting in place a good and functional quality assurance programme, for which reason the governing board approved the take-off of a national quality assurance programme applicable to both public and private medical laboratories, with the aim to ensure that only licensed and proficient medical laboratory scientists manned diagnostic laboratories, practised ethically, and used the proper equipment and diagnostic reagents.
He pointed out that the health minister, Professor Eyitayo Lambo launched the national quality assurance policy in Lagos on April 14, 2005 while some medical laboratories in Abuja and Lagos where selected as pilot scheme for the programme.
Professor Agbaoulahor faulted state governments which, according to him, regarded the registration of medical labs as a business concern and, therefore, registered them without recourse to the regulatory body, a situation he claimed has given rise to mushroom laboratories with disastrous consequences.
The council's strategy, he said, was to first create awareness and allow practitioners to regularize their registration, after which, from next year, it would start closing down all illegal laboratories and prosecute defaulters.
The secretary/registrar of the council, Lady Elizabeth Uche Okonkwo, in her address, remarked that no reasonable professional would be happy with the state of disorderliness in some private and public medical laboratories.
She disclosed that the council plans to organize training programmes at the central and state levels for all laboratory personal with emphasis on practical use of screening and confirmation test kits.
According to the registrar, the council is also articulating a policy to streamline the importation, storage and marketing of medical laboratory reagents and chemicals. This, she said, would be done in collaboration with NAFDAC and other relevant agencies.
She further stated that tags for junior laboratory personal have been designed, and a review of the curriculum of this cadre has commenced in line with the health reform policy.
The council was also said to be carrying out accreditation visits to universities that train practitioners to keep check on the quality of their facilities and qualification of lecturers.
The campaign tour, Mr. Imoh Okon of the university of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital stated was scheduled to kick off at the Borikiri axis of Port Harcourt city and would comb through Diobu to all parts of the city and would cover the six geo-graphical zones of the country.