By Chioma Obinna  and Gabriel Olawale

The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, has expressed displeasure over the level of preparedness for a disease outbreak in the country.

In an exclusive interview with Good Health Weekly, the association’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ifeanyi Casmier who frowned at the structure put in place by the Federal and State governments to curtail the coronavirus outbreak said that having only five testing laboratory centres across the country were unacceptable.

Ifeanyi said that such a laboratory supposed to be readily available in all the Teaching and Federal medical centres across the country.

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“I commend the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has been able to initiate the provision of five public health laboratory centres for making molecular diagnostic.

But I want to tell you that the laboratory for testing infectious diseases like coronavirus supposes to be a commonplace in all our teaching and federal medical centres across the country.

“Some of the state general hospitals, particularly states that are prone to recurrent outbreak of diseases like Lassa fever, meningitis, cholera among others. But regrettably, the majority of our health institutions did not have a functional laboratory.

“We need to understand that any hospital or health institution without a functional medical laboratory with some form of accreditation is like a tree without a root, it will definitely fall.

Ifeanyi called on government at all levels to build the capacity of the medical laboratory in all the Teaching hospitals and Federal medical centres.

As a matter of urgency, the government should review the minimum package for health to incorporate medical laboratory at the Primary Health Care level.

That is when we will be taking seriously among the committee of nations.

“There can never be universal health coverage without a quality medical laboratory testing system.

Once we get it right, we will deal with this entire outbreak without fear. The good outcome of any disease is early detection and you cannot have early detection if the laboratory is not at the right level.

“What is happening at the airport are grossly inadequate, they did not comply with any reference standard for screening of people arriving at the point of entry.

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When we have outbreaks like this, our health screening at the port supposed to be scaled up, if we do not scale it up and continue to give people paper to fill, honestly they will continue to escape.

“You go to some Teaching hospitals and federal medical centres, one or two medical laboratory personnel handling the whole department.

What we should worry about are basic laboratory consumables which are not readily available.

There is no over-investment in the medical laboratory and any country’s health system is as strong as its laboratory system. In Nigeria, it’s none existence and that is our worry.”

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