ND Western Limited, an indigenous oil and gas company, and its partners have completed a state-of-the-art medical diagnostic facility in Ogunu, Warri, Delta State.
The medical facility, called DeltaPlus Diagnostics, is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, ND Western, and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The ND Western/NPDC/IPPG Laboratory is a well-equipped facility that is designed to provide the most convenient, friendliest COVID-19 and blood testing services to hospitals, Health Management Organisations, and individuals in Delta and its neighbouring states.
Speaking on this feat, Eberechukwu Oji, CEO of ND Western, said DeltaPlus Diagnostics, through its collaborative partnership, engaged the Federal Government to proffer a practical solution to the COVID-19 pandemic by building a fully equipped molecular diagnostics laboratory in RA Shell Housing Estate Ogunu.
“The diagnostics centre aims to provide reliable testing processes and other critical medical diagnostic services to the medical community, corporations, HMOs, and individuals in Delta State and beyond.
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“The laboratory is equipped to support the medical research community in the South-South and the neighboring states as well as reduce the need to travel for long distances to access critical diagnostic services such as the facility provides.”
Services to be provided at the laboratory include PCR Test (COVID-19), Tumor markers/Cancer Screening Test; HIV Detection, HIV Viral Load, HBV Detection, HPV Detection, STD Panel, Respiratory Panel, Hepatitis B Test, Tuberculosis Test, Gene Expression, miRNA Profiling, Copy Number Variation, Protein Thermal Shift, High-Resolution Melt, SNP Genotype, DNA Test, Oncology, Stem Cell Research, Diabetes Screening, Liver and Kidney Function test, Lipid profile, Fertility Testing, Full Blood Count, and Infection Screening (STI, UTI, and STDs).
To ensure its optimal functionality and efficient operations, the donors have appointed Katchey Laboratories Limited to manage the facility.
“COVID 19 pandemic is a challenge that requires special thinking. The peculiarities of this disease require a laboratory that can provide constant monitoring, to avoid the spread of the disease to unsuspecting colleagues. Therefore, it is imperative to have a diagnostics laboratory with the capacity to routinely carry out serologic and biologic molecular tests specifically for COVID-19,” Katchey Laboratories said in a statement.
The official commissioning of the facility is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.
ND Western Limited is an independent Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company made up of a consortium of four companies: Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited (NDPR), Petrolin Trading Limited (PETROLIN), FIRST Exploration & Petroleum Development OML 34 Limited and Walter-Smith Exploration and Production Limited.
Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) is an association of Nigeria’s indigenous upstream Exploration & Production Companies which seeks to maximise its contribution to the socio-economic development of Nigeria established in 2015.
