The President, Guild of Medical Laboratory Directors of Nigeria, Chioma Austin-Opara, has decried the underutilisation of medical laboratories in the country.
said laboratories in developed countries were assisting in the development of coronavirus test kits because medical scientists had over the years been encouraged to carry out continuous research.Austin-Opara said, “We have serious challenges with testing. Nigeria has made efforts to increase testing capacities but that is not enough.
“As a country, we pay too much attention to what I consider distractions instead of building our system to be self-sufficient and sustainable. There has not been that concerted effort to encourage research and development. They should provide grants so that people can embark on true research and by so doing we would have installed capacity to do anything in the event of outbreaks and pandemics like this.
“In the United States, within a matter of two weeks, their laboratories developed test kits for their country, because they have been doing that before this time. I can tell you now that even the labs that have installed capacities in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria are not being utilised.”Copyright PUNCH.
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