Lab scientists decry health services

By Topsy Oba

National President, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Dr Godswill Okara, has lamented the state of health care system in the country.

Speaking at the opening session of the association’s 48th Annual Scientific Conference/Workshop, in Benin, on Wednesday, Okara warned that unless practitioners and other stakeholders stick to the rules and regulations, the situation could worsen.

Lamenting the state of the health sector, which he said had made millions lose confidence in the ability of practitioners, the situation, he said, called for drastic measures.

He said, “Our nation Nigeria has continued the search for solution to the declining status of the health system and the ever worsening health indices of poor maternal and infant mortality rates, the increasing lack of public confidence in our health system as reflected in the growing number of patients seeking medical attention abroad.

“A recent study revealed that over 20 per cent of foreign patients seeking medical attention in India were from Nigeria.

“It should certainly be an issue for concern for every right thinking Nigerian, how we as a nation got to this sad situation and how we can get out of it. The unmitigated mismanagement and poor administrative leadership of the health sector is at the root of the crisis.”

Representative of Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the four-day conference, with theme ‘Health System in Nigeria: The Medical Labouratory Imperatives,’ Edo Commissioner for Health, Dr. Cordelia Aiwieze, said the state government had embarked on total reform in the health sector.

According to her, this is through the construction of more health centers, employment of doctors and on-going “construction of a state of the art specialist hospital in Benin City, to be equipped with modern medical facilities with a cancer centre.”