Health practitioner decries poor state of medical laboratories in Nigeria

 A medical laboratory scientist, Dr Casmir Ifeanyi, who is the National Publicity Secretary, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMSLN), on Tuesday, has decried the poor state of the medical laboratory sector in Nigeria, stressing the need to revamp the medical laboratory sector by building in-country capacity for local production of vaccines.

 In his exclusive interview with Goodhealth weekly, Dr. Ifeanyi maintained that Nigeria’s inability to produce vaccines locally and the massive reliance on importation is the bane of effective containment of the outbreak of hemorrhagic fevers in the country.

The laboratory scientist warned that until Nigeria restructures its medical laboratory sector, the country will continue to lag in health indices.

He further stressed that the bedrock of every National health system is a strengthened medical laboratory system, however, the laboratory structure in Nigeria is very weak because most of the recommendations in the National Medical Laboratory Science Policy 2007 are not implemented.

” Currently, Nigeria has 52 Federal Teaching Hospitals and 22 Federal Medical Centers, but none of these facilities has any form of accreditation. 

Nigeria is the 4th leading country in importation of laboratory equipment and consumables, and more than 90 per cent of consumables required to provide medical laboratory testing is all imported and this has led to various substandard products finding their way into Nigeria.

Again, the testing laboratory at Yaba, Lagos, which former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi, facilitated, is yet to be put into full function” he said.

Reacting to the resurgence of Yellow fever in Izzi, Ebonyi State, recently, which has resulted in the death of people, Dr. Ifeanyi advised that there is the need to establish more of these labs in the South-East axis, particularly, in Ebonyi State.

”I have singled out Ebonyi State because it is the focal point for local outbreak of Lassa fever in the South East.

Now it is also the focal point for Yellow fever outbreak in the South East, so it becomes very pertinent for the South-East Governors Forum to come together and put up a Zonal public health laboratory to deal with the issues of Lassa fever, issues of detection and diagnosis of yellow fever, monkeypox and all such hemorrhagic fevers that is beginning to rear their ugly heads. Weak medical lab structure.

The weak medical laboratory structure in Nigeria is something that we will continue to cry about.”

 ”It is shameful that we still courier specimen to detect hemorrhagic fevers to smaller countries that are smaller than Kwara state in Nigeria, such countries like Cote Ivoire and Senegal.

It is pathetic, it is shameful and when they have national disasters we will dole them the big brother support whereas, in-country, we are empty.

We are like painted sepulchre. The present administration must begin to focus on revamping medical laboratories and must stop the rivalry in the health sector” he laments.

According to him, ‘‘I am also sure you are aware of Monkey pox all these belong to the hemorrhagic family and there are a few others including avian influenza.

The pathetic story about the yellow fever resurgence and recurrent outbreak now is almost to an endemicity in Nigeria is rather very worrisome.

It is worrisome because Nigeria medical laboratory scientists were producing yellow fever vaccine, I can spare us some names, Pa Nwachukwu, Chief Barrister Felix Nwabueze, Mr Mike Momoh, and persons like Prof B.E Agbolohor, these men and many more were producing yellow fever vaccines in Nigeria. These are medical laboratory scientists.”