Minister Commends MLSCN’s Achievements
The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has been commended for its efforts and steadfastness to rid the medical laboratory services sector of quacks and fake products with a view to sanitising the sector.
Speaking on a presentation made by the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the council, Prof Anthony O. Emeribe on the activities of the agency in the last four years in Abuja recently, the Minister of State for Health, Engr Fidelis Nwankwo said it was encouraging to know how much the agency had achieved in such a short period.
Nwankwo said it was regrettable that the medical laboratory services sector was so undervalued despite that it remains critical to the success of the entire health system.
“This situation has led to the unfortunate experience where some citizens visit up to three laboratories for the same investigation only to receive three different results,” he said.
The minister who observed that covering all the nooks and crannies of a large country like Nigeria was a herculean task, commended Emeribe for his foresight in attaining giant strides in the agency.
The minister of state expressed regret that issue of funds had remained a recurrent decimal across the country, including the health sector, a situation which he said the envelope budgetary system had not helped.
“The recurrent system decimal is funds, and the envelope system has not helped. Despite the short time we have left, we will do what we can to support you; even if it is to draw attention to the relevant quarters towards your activities and challenges, I think that could go a long way.”
Earlier, Emeribe had brought some of the challenges facing the agency to the attention of the minister, saying clearly that funding was the biggest problem militating against the realisation of the agency’s goals.
“If funding could be improved, and the ministry of health further supports our efforts towards the eradication of quackery and fake or substandard medical laboratory products, there is no doubt that we will record more success in our programmes for the good of our citizens who continue to travel abroad in search of reliable medical diagnostics,” he said.