Association seeks legislation, funding to check quackery medical laboratory

The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, has called for appropriate legislation and funding to check quackery in medical laboratory science practice in the country.

The Chairman of the association, Mr. Olumide Fadipe, made the call in an interview with the Newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.

Fadipe decried the growing menace of quacks in medical laboratory science practice across the country.

He said that appropriate laws and enforcements should be introduced urgently to check the trend.

Fadipe said that it was heartbreaking that qualified laboratory scientists were not manning some laboratory diagnostic centres in the country.

He said that the hazardous scenario needed to change, saying that about 95 per cent of medical laboratories in many hospitals in Nigeria were manned by unqualified laboratory scientists.

According to him, the legislation is needed to define the requisite training and certification that a person should possess to qualify him or her to run a lab science outfit, which also handles ultrasound and diagnostic reporting.

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“It is on these premises that I would like to call on the employers of labour, in public and private, to encourage good lab science practices.

“This can be achieved through appropriate equipment procurement, employment of qualified and registered lab scientists with requisite skills, professionalism and commensurate remuneration.

“Inaccurate diagnosis leads to the wrong management of patients, which can lead to grave consequences on the patients.

“There are laid down procedures to follow in carrying out laboratory tests; ranging from sterilisation of the needles/kits to samples collection and proper disposition of used medical materials are all supposed to be handled by a qualified lab scientist.

“Unfortunately, some individuals and nurses in the comfort of their rooms do carry out lab tests using Point-Of-Care Testing kits.

“Normally, the testing kits are supposed to be handled by only qualified laboratory scientists,” he said.

Fadipe said the association had been working with regulatory agencies such as the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria and the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency to check quackery.

The AMLSN chairman said that the association occasionally moves around to identify some of the quack laboratory outfits and reports back to the regulatory agencies for appropriate actions or sanctions.

“As an association, there’s a limit to what we can do; as a result, we work hand in hand with the two regulatory agencies.

“But the availability of adequate funds to at least mobilise personnel, vehicles and cater for other logistics needed to visit the illegal operating laboratory outlets, is always a challenge,” Fadipe said.