The Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora has charged all Teaching Hospitals, Federal Medical Centers and Federal Specialist Hospitals in Nigeria to key into the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, MLSCN, accreditation programme in the next couple of years to enhance medical diagnostics in Nigeria.
Senator Mamora gave the charge in Abuja, at the unveiling of MLSCN Accreditation Service as an Associate Member of International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, ILAC, and the presentation of Certificate of ISO 15189:2012 to the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory Saye-Zaria, Kaduna state.
While speaking on the importance of accurate laboratory tests results in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and the need for health workers to work collaboratively, he also admonished health sector players to leverage on the opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to further strengthen the health service delivery in Nigeria.
“At this juncture, let me charge all Federal Teaching Hospitals, Federal Medical Centres and Federal Specialists Hospitals in the country to key into the MLSCN Accreditation Programme within the next couple of years in order to change the current narrative in the health sector. The world over, accreditation is a measure of excellence and I do not see why any institution should be running away from accreditation.
“Through its activities and selection as Associate Member of ILAC, MLSCN has advanced the course of this country internationally.”
Also speaking, the Registrar of MLSCN, Dr. Tosan Erhabor explained that the membership status conferred on the Council brings with it privileges such as eligibility to use the ILAC Logo or Tagline which is a registered trademark; voting power at the ILAC General Assembly among others.
Erhabor also revealed that MLSCN Accreditation Services has at present, granted approval to ISO 15189:2012 to twelve deserving medical facilities among many other baseline assessments and advocacies.
“The Associate membership status of ILAC confers on MLSCN the following privileges:
Operation of an International Accreditation schemes for Medical Laboratory testing and/or other services as decided from time to time by the ILAC General Assembly, thus conferring on acc; eligibility to use the ILAC Logo or Tagline which is a registered trade mark.; and voting power at the ILAC General Assembly.
“However, it is important to note that MLSCN Accreditation Services have so far granted approval to ISO 15189:2012 to twelve (12) deserving medical laboratory facilities with so many other baseline assessments and advocacies carried out. It is on this note that I want to thank all the medical laboratories that have chosen the pathway of quality by embracing accreditation of their facilities.”
On his part, the Chairman, MLSCN Board, Prof. Mohammed Gwarzo pledged that the Board will craft policies that will ensure all medical facilities key into the accreditation system and strengthen the practice of Medical Laboratory Science in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) is the Statutory Agency of Government charged with the responsibility of regulating Medical Laboratory Services and Practice in Nigeria as enshrined in Act 11 of 2003 (CAP M25 LFN 2004).
In line with meeting International best practices, Nigeria has adopted the ISO 15189:2012 as a National Industrial standard for accreditation of public and private medical laboratories in Nigeria.
This standard covers a variety of areas, including human resources, infrastructure, equipment, in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) regulation, and analysis/activities and Quality Management System.
