The West African Health Organisation and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine have trained medical laboratory professionals in Nigeria to achieve ISO1589 accreditation. A Senior Team Leader, GFA Consulting Group, Dr Olivier Manigart, said the training project focused on four key areas – transportion of samples, data management, waste management and bio security.

 

Manigart said the KFW funded project, which covered training and helped to equip laboratories cost the sum of €10 million. He said, “The backbone of our project is to train people on the path to ISO1589 accreditation. We are trying to equip five regional reference laboratories in Nigeria.”

 

WAHO Liaison Officer in Nigeria, Dr Ojuolape Solanke, said effective laboratories are vital in fighting disease outbreaks. She said, “The region has to take its own health seriously by improving laboratory surveillance to prevent epidemics and diseases across the border. The training workshop has been on mentoring and improving quality management in laboratory systems. It is for the good of Nigeria, West Africa  and the global community at large.”

 

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, while speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, said effective laboratories would help in getting the right diagnosis for patients. “One of the fundamental principles of health care is correct diagnosis. A doctor or a health care provider is dependent on diagnostic capabilities to make correct diagnosis. When we treat without laboratory backup, we are sometimes guessing at what we are dealing with.

 

“When a doctor is guessing, he may give the wrong treatment. Also, when a doctor is treating a patient, he needs to be able to monitor the progress of the patient because he can’t just leave everything to wishful thinking,” Abayomi said.