Health experts have called on the federal government to set up a national reference laboratory in the country.
Prof. John Idoko, a professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases, said the absence of a national reference laboratory in the country was responsible for Nigeria’s struggles to send samples outside the country during the Ebola outbreak, and also sending samples to far places during the Lassa fever and other diseases outbreaks.
Speaking during a symposium organised by the Partec Healthcare Limited, a Sysmex Company, in Abuja, he said laboratories should be like health care centres that are operated from primary, secondary to tertiary levels, and then one central laboratory, that is the national reference laboratory.
Prof. Idoko who is also the immediate past director-general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) said the national reference laboratory would have the capacity to carry out diagnosis of samples of major and emerging diseases, adding that with a national reference laboratory, issues like cost effectiveness, efficiency and preparedness would be tackled.
Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Abuja, Dr. JAF Momoh, said Nigeria needed a reference laboratory where all kinds of equipment required for excellent and reliable diagnosis of different ailments could be diagnosed. Represented by the chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the hospital, Dr. Oniyangi Oluseyi, he said Public Private Partnership (PPP) for expensive equipment, outright purchase of equipment, and support by donor agencies were ways of funding quality laboratory equipment and diagnosis in the country.
Manager Operations, Sysmex-Partec in Nigeria, Mr Bitrus Badung, said the automation in the laboratory system was very critical for the provision and maintenance of equipment as well as training in order to produce quality results required for healthcare management.
He said the symposium titled ‘Diagnostic Laboratory Automation in Nigeria - Funding Options’, was organised to interact with end users of its products because automation could not succeed without human expertise.
“Automation means an equipment carrying out a process without too much human intervention. So we still need that training component which we will provide to end users to enable them use our products effectively,” he said.
In a paper titled ‘Trends in Haematology Diagnosis: Yesterday, Today and the Future,’ Dr Nnachi Oluomachi said blood-related disorders were increasing by the day with a growing burden of haematological diseases, lack of specialist treatment and deficiency of specialised infrastructure for early, rapid and proper diagnosis and treatment.
She said the risk of diagnostic error was still high in our society due to lack of resource, equipment and expertise, adding that there was need to bridge the gap with availability and accessibility of current diagnostic technologies and expertise training.
She added that every lab user must arm himself with knowledge of emerging technologies, impact on laboratory practice, clinical diagnosis and monitoring of haematological diseases.
By: Ojoma Akor
Daily Trust News
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