By; DAHIRU SULEIMAN, Dutse
The 16th Annual Public Health Lecture and 205 NEC Meeting of the National Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists resolved that in the upcoming 2023 general elections, Medical Laboratory Scientists in Nigeria will only support candidates that offer hope and are ready to articulate the road map towards healthcare reforms and address issues of insecurity efficiently.
Addressing a press conference, the association’s National President, Professor James Garba Damen said the moribund nature of human vaccine production laboratories was decried on, amidst the disturbing ascendency in emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19, Lassa Fever and Monkey Pox.
“As professionals, we value saving lives and enhanced security as vital tools to national development. Therefore, we must be rest assured of commitment, dedication, capability and credibility of whom to support amongst the country’s flagbearers, who will transform our health sector more vibrantly before giving him our mandate.”
They also called on the Federal Government to expedite action on local production of vaccines, with the resuscitation of vaccine production laboratories in the country.
The meeting expressed concerns over how the country has become a dumping ground for all sorts of vaccines produced using alien microbial strains coming from countries that were trailing behind Nigeria at Independence.
“The continuous deployment of these alien microbial based vaccines amongst our population poses a serious health challenge as it has been evidenced that many of these alien microbial based vaccine have failed to elicit the requisite immunogenicity and the recipient therefore, remains vulnerable even after vaccination.”
During the session with a theme, “Integrated Disease Testing: A high impact Public Health Laboratory Diagnosis and Disease Surveillance Intervention” health experts presented papers on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Reporting, Application of Molecular Diagnosis Tools in Integrated Diseases Surveillance, Tuberculosis and COVID-19 Diagnosis.
Among the health experts was Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, the Director- General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The meeting noted that infectious diseases will continue to emerge and re- emerge at national and sub-national levels, as such, medical laboratories must continue to re-invent their policies and practices to effectively investigate outbreaks with the view to containing them early enough before they progress into pandemic and international calamities.
NEC also noted with dismay the inability of some states and the federal health establishments to implement the National Industrial Court ruling on the establishment of Directorates of Medical Laboratory Services.
Earlier in his remarks, Governor Badaru Abubakar pledged to approve the establishment of Directorates of Medical Laboratory Services in the state Ministry of Health, hospital management board and primary healthcare agency as well as the award of piece of plot for the erection of the state Secretariat of National Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Jigawa State Chapter.
