The Federal Government in its National Quality Policy has directed for the accreditation of all Medical laboratories in the country by the year 2025.
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) Dr. Tosan Erhabor disclosed this on Tuesday at the official presentation of ISO certificate to Clina-Lancet Laboratory in Abuja.
According to him, while accreditation of Medical Laboratories is a desirable hallmark of quality, it still remains voluntary.
He said the presentation of National ISO accreditation to Clina-Lancet Laboratory brings the total number of medical laboratories accredited in Nigeria to twenty (20).
Dr. Erhabor said with where the country was a few years ago, having twenty (20) accredited facilities seems commendable, but given MLSCN’s commitment towards benchmarking international best practices and also considering the Patient accredited facility ratio in the country, there is still much to be done.
He urge all Medical Laboratory Practitioner to embrace accreditation as a means of demonstrating their technical competence as he says such is required to actualise the Federal Government’s directive in the National Quality Policy that all Medical laboratories should be accredited by 2025.
He further called on the Federal Ministry of Health to deliberate on policy that will make accreditation of Medical Laboratories mandatory especially for Federal Teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centers in the country.
He assured that the MLSCN management will continue to rejuvenate the health Laboratory Diagnostic value chain to meet the yearnings of patients in the country thereby making it unattractive for citizens to embark on medical tourism to other climes in search of medical diagnosis.
The Managing Director of Clina-Lancet Dr. Players Dawudu represented by his operations Manager, Dr. Olohihere Umelo in his remark said his Laboratory deals in pathology testing, haematology, microbiology, molecular testing, histopathology and immunology testing amongst others.
He promised to continue to improve on health care delivery in Nigeria while assuring Nigerians of quality and accurate laboratory investigations and diagnosis.
