By Oluwakemi Oladipo and Omowunmi Alake
Lagos – Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has urged medical laboratory scientists to adopt best practices and methods obtainable in other climes to help improve healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Sanwo-Olu spoke at the opening ceremony of the 54th Annual Scientific Conference of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
Theme of the conference was: “Laboratory Diagnosis: The Fulcrum of an Efficient Primary Healthcare Delivery System”.
Sanwo-Olu, represented by Dr Titilayo Goncalves, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, said that the nation’s health policy required support, commitment and dedicated health workers for successful healthcare delivery.
“Issues of health are so important to the wellbeing of individuals and to any nation that any medical-related discourse must always be viewed with all seriousness.
“Theme of this conference is not only timely, but appropriate considering efforts of the state government at improving its healthcare delivery standards.
“For meaningful development and progress to take place, we must have a healthy population which must be effective and efficient healthcare system.
“Health interventions are planned and designed to achieve specific objectives within an overall developmental effort.
“These interventions will support and reinforce social investments and lead to substantial benefit in the development process,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He said that primary healthcare was not just a doctor’s business, it was about teamwork, with the patient at its core.
“Evidence consistently shows the importance of cooperation and multi-disciplinary team practice so as to improve patients’ outcome and enhance patients’ satisfaction.
“Laboratory information, therefore, has profound impact on patient diagnosis, which means medical laboratory scientists and physicians have to partner.
“Through this partnership, the overall cost of testing and patient care is controlled and the quality of care is improved,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Also, Mr Kehinde Adegoke, Lagos Chairman of AMLSN, urged governments and other stakeholders in the health sector to leverage on the role played by laboratory scientists together with other health professionals.
Adegoke said that both laboratory scientists and health professionals came together to combat major epidemics that bedeviled the nation.
“The theme is very relevant in today’s practice as the challenges faced due to neglect of the role of laboratory practice cannot be overemphasised.
“This key role has been left in the hands of non-professionals to handle and thus the alarming death toll in the primary healthcare system.
“Without the efficient laboratory practice, maternal and child deaths and other deaths due to errors from non-professionals in the laboratory becomes increasingly significant,” he said.
(NAN)
