Nigerian Government has been urged to upgrade sickle Cell diagnosis facilities in public hospitals to contain sickle cell disease in the country.
Charles Emuchay, managing director, Excellence Medical Laboratory, made the appeal, Friday, at the ongoing 22nd Annual National Conference/Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Guild of Medical Laboratory Directors of Nigeria (GMLD), holding in Aba, Abia State.
He described as unfortunate that the Sickle Cell gene is still on the increase in Nigeria, despite efforts of agencies of government, churches, and NGOs to exterminate the disease.
Emuchay, who chaired the opening ceremony of the conference, however, attributed the increase in sickle cell gene in Nigeria to the wrong diagnosis and appealed to laboratory directors to do their best to ensure that the disease is contained.
He appealed to the Federal and State Governments to donate equipment to private laboratories, which according to him, receives a greater number of clients presenting for pre-marital testing and counseling to stem sickle cell disease.
On the novel COVID-19 pandemic, he advised medical laboratory directors to deliberate on how to provide accurate, reliable, and cost-effective methods of diagnosing COVID-19 disease, especially at this time that Government at all levels found it difficult to maintain their health facilities, due to economic meltdown, coupled with incessant strike actions ravaging and bedeviling the country’s health institutions.
He stressed that the only hope of the populace lies in private healthcare providers, where they belong to do their best to provide the actual need of the masses and to save lives.
The theme of this year’s event is “Persistent Sickle Cell disease in Africa: the role of private medical laboratories in its mitigation and possible eradication”.
