Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, has appealed to the Federal Government to allow equity in the handling of the nation’s health systems by health professionals.

 

This is even as the group pledged to engage in more research activities that would mitigate present challenges facing the nation’s health sector.

 

Newly inaugurated president of the association, Alhaji Toyosi Raheem, said this during the inauguration of his executives in Abuja at the weekend.

 

Raheem, who leads the group for the next two years, said the present trends in global health system “allow” the different professional groups in the health team to bring their experience into both clinical services and health administration.

 

He appealed to government not to allow rivalries that often result in recurrent strikes among doctors and other health workers in the country to continue as a culture in the sector.

 

Toyosi said: “Our association has observed with regret, the manner in which the current crisis in health sector is being handled by governments at all levels in Nigeria. It would be recalled that in any normal clime, crisis in the health sector culminating in national industrial actions is handled with utmost urgency and attention.

 

“Regrettably, in Nigeria, crisis and industrial actions in the sector is given little or no attention at all. This in most cases leads to avoidable loss of lives and unbearable economic burdens on the masses especially, in terms of getting alternative access to health care locally or outside the country for those who could afford it

 

 

“Early this year, NMA went on national strike for days before their issues were resolved albeit with consequent avoidable loss of lives. Similarly, the ongoing national strike by JOHESU members seemed not to gain urgent attention from the government. With these types of attitudes in governance and leadership, one wonders how Universal Health Coverage, UHC, and health-related MDGs could ever be achieved in Nigeria.

 

While lauding President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the National Health Bill into law, Toyosi listed the objectives of his administration to include improvement of medical laboratory operation services in Nigeria by ensuring that medical laboratories in the country, both in public and private, embrace accreditation requirements as contained in ISO 15189 accreditation standard and other relevant checklists.

 

AMLSN, he emphasised, would ensure that continuous development programmes of AMLSN/ MLSCN, meet the actual needs of the public and the clients and that “untapped areas” such as forensic DNA analysis would be engaged in, with a view to making the services locally available at affordable costs.

 

by MARCUS FATUNMOLE