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High cost of laboratory test irks pathologist

High cost of laboratory test irks pathologist
By Ummul Idris
Laboratory
Abuja, Feb. 1, 2019 (NAN) Dr Precious Obinna, an FCT base Pathologist, has expressed worry over the high cost of laboratory test in the country.
Fielding questions from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, Obinna called on laboratory owners to reduce their charges.
She noted that where the costs of laboratory test was outrageous and out of reach of those in search of it could worsen the health of the individual.
Obinna said that when patients could not afford to pay such crazy bills as charged by the proprietors, it could have a multiplier adverse effect on healthcare services.
She also called on laboratory owners to improve the quality and value of the tests, adding that the result that should be delivered to patient timely and physician should enable them to diagnose the ailment.
She however advised Nigerians to patronise pathology laboratories headed by qualified pathologists to avoid unpleasant consequences.
According to her, the best patients’ management can only be guaranteed by laboratories headed by pathologists.
She noted that such patronage in a certified owner’s laboratory was the only way to sustain best patient management in hospitals across the country.
Pathologists are experts in understanding the basis and diagnosis of different kinds of diseases, typically categorised by organs. (NAN)
UMD/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Association calls for improved medical lab services, accreditation

NAN-HG-1
Laboratories
By Vivian Ihechu
Lagos, June 23, 2017(NAN) The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) says the quality of  medical laboratory services should be improved on to strengthen healthcare delivery services.

Alhaji Toyosi Raheem, the National President of the association told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday, that the quality of laboratory results depended on quality of services rendered.

He said that this could impact positively on diagnosis of health conditions and would consolidate the quality of healthcare services.

Raheem spoke on the sidelines of the 2017 Symposium of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Lagos, chapter.

“The quality of a clinical establishment depends on the competences and qualities of its medical laboratories.

“If you have a giant hospital with a deficient laboratory, that hospital will be performing below optimal expectation.

“When the quality of laboratory is enhanced, it facilitates quality diagnosis of patients, whether people that are sick or those out to check their health status.

“So, once you have a very good laboratory in a health institution, the quality of service of such institutions will be outstanding,’’ he said.

According to him, the essence of the gathering is for laboratory scientists to look at all the procedures and processes needed to ensure that the qualities of laboratory results are improved upon.

Mrs Maureen Aniedobe, the Chairperson of the association,  said a major aim of the gathering was to update themselves academically and to deliberate on the present happenings in the industry.

“We also have to reposition ourselves to play our roles as laboratories scientists; there are certain decisions to be taken,’’ she said.

According to Aniedobe, the association is also seeking accreditation and funding.

“Funding has been an issue for accreditation and that is why funding is the theme of today’s programme.

“To attain this accreditation feat, funding is required because quality is expensive; AMLSN, NIMR chapter has a five-star status but what remains is the accreditation.

“There is need to eradicate misdiagnosis and once laboratories get accredited, the margin of error is reduced.

“The minimal margin of error that can be accepted in medical laboratory is one per cent; some people even say it should be zero per cent.

“So, when you do not have those internationally required processes in place, when errors occur, they can go undetected and the effects are grave,’’ she said.

Aniedobe said there were benefits to getting accreditation as  international accreditation meant that in any part of the country or outside the country where the result was generated and presented, it would be accepted.

“This is because there are requirements, audit assessments and conditions to be fulfilled before getting accredited.

“With the accreditation also doors are open; organisations like the WHO will want to collaborate with you because it shows that you are competent,’’ she said.

Aniedo called on the Federal Government, NGOs and corporate bodies to partner with laboratories.

Earlier, Prof. Monday Useh, a professor of medical parasitology, said that an efficient and operational Total Quality Management (TQM) was the way to obtain accreditation.

Useh, who is in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, University of Calabar, Cross-River, said that the training processes involved in becoming a medical laboratory scientist sufficiently prepared them to practice ethically.

He urged practitioners to put in practice an efficient TQM with emphasis on Standard Operating Procedures to generate results which are reliable, accurate, reproducible and cost-effective.

The theme is of the symposium is: “Funding for Accreditation Process in Medical Diagnostic and Research Laboratories in Nigeria’’. (NAN)
VIV/GY
======

Edited by Grace Yussuf

Health

3 N-power volunteers establish mini-laboratory at Otokutu PHC

3 N-power volunteers establish mini-laboratory at Otokutu PHC

NAN-HG-2
Laboratory
Ughelli (Delta), June 21, 2017 (NAN) Three female volunteers in the N-Health programme have established a mini laboratory at the Primary Health Centre, Otokutu, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta.

The volunteers are Jennifer Angese (2013 Pharmacology graduate of Delta State University); Mary James (2011 Microbiology graduate of Unijos); and Harriet Azurundu (2001, BSc Microbiology – Imo State University – and 2008 MLSc –UPTH).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the trio contributed money to purchase the equipment and establish the laboratory in April, barely four months of their deployment to the PHC to provide medical outreach to the rural community.

Narrating their experiences when the Monitoring and Evaluation team of N-Power visited the centre, James said they felt pity for the community which had the centre for long but travelled far to access medical facilities.

She said that rather than seek deployment they made contributions from their token to purchase the equipment in bits in order to make meaningful impact in the community.

According to her, the equipment comprising both electrical and manual types, are worth about N100,000 but that some tests are delayed in the centre due to epileptic power and lack of alternative power source.

She said that her colleagues were teaching in private schools and receiving pittance prior to the N-power job, but noted that the scheme had offered them the opportunity to practice their profession and gain experience.

James said the community was excited about the development but had not made additional input due to poverty, “but we hope someone, someday will do that for the sake of the rural people’’.

She said that due to epileptic power the lab always concluded the samples tests, and issued the results the same day of collection.

She said some patients were referred to bigger facilities if they had to wait for the results for more than a day, “but we work for as long as possible to make patients’ results ready’’.

Azurundu, another volunteer, added that since the provision of the laboratory no fewer than 70 patients including pregnant women, the aged and children had their blood, urine and other samples tested for proper diagnosis and treatment.

“We assumed duty in February and since we discovered that there was no laboratory section here we decided to set up one to assist in proper diagnosis and treatment of patients.

“The lab has been of great help; it has improved the services of the health workers in the health centre.

“Since we started lab tests we have had almost 70 patients benefitting but we have attended to others without actually putting them in our records,’’ Azurundu said.

She said that apart from the help that the people needed it had been her dream to be able to touch lives in one way or the other and “N-Power has given me that room and opportunity to touch lives’’.

On her part, Angese noted that the patients were often tested free or charged only 50 per cent of the cost of the examination to encourage others to access adequate medicare due to poverty.

The volunteers thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for initiating the N-Power programme because it had touched so many lives.

They acknowledged that from the stipends they were able also to help in family upkeep and support their siblings in their education.

The volunteers said they were not expecting the federal government to terminate the programme after two years, but rather to strengthen it because “we will not like to go back after two years doing nothing.

“We hope it will continue in a better way.’’

NAN also reports that the laboratory is equipped with syringes, piercing needles, various reagents, glucometer, cotton swaps, feed stains, oil immersion, microscope, mirror, plastercine, capillary tubes.

Others are blood-count equipment, methylated spirit, HIV reagents, puppets, EDTA collection bottles, hand gloves, wither kits, counting chamber, improvised slide racks, an electric-powered centrifuge as well as a hand-powered centrifuge.

Mr John James, the husband of Mary James, who visited the centre at the time of the monitoring, thanked the federal government for its transparency in the recruitment of the volunteers.

John, a Veterinary graduate-turned logistics specialist, who lost his job in December due to the death of his employer, said that the wife had been sustaining the family from her stipend.

“N-Power is another door that has opened for our family and I encourage the volunteers not to focus attention on the stipend but ensure that they become true professionals during the two-year programme.

“I thank God Almighty and his instrument, President Muhammadu Buhari, and pray that God grants him sound health and also his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, for this programme,’’ he said.

The Presidential aide on Job Creation, Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, expressed gratitude to the volunteers for their painstaking effort to live out the dream of the programme by impacting on the society.

He urged them to continue in their stride as by their conduct they had opened new vistas in their lives.

Imoukhuede also expressed gladness with the performance of the volunteers in Nana Model Secondary and Primary Schools, Warri, and those at the Central Hospital Warri.

However, he told the Medical Director of the Warri Hospital to cancel the one-day off granted to the volunteers weekly since the programme was a full time volunteer scheme without shifts, night or weekend duty.

At a private investor integrated fish farm in Warri, Imoukhuede thanked the proprietor for making the massive facility available for the N-Agro participants to acquire more practical knowledge on fisheries.

An N-Agro volunteer, Mrs Ese Adiomamore, told NAN that the scheme was a sure way of achieving the self-sufficiency in food production and economic diversification programme of the present administration. (NAN)
DCU/OFN/MST

Edited by Felix Nwadioha/Muhammad Suleiman Tola