Professor tasks Nigerian govt to build sophisticated medical laboratories

A Medical Microbiology professor, Abdulwasiu Hassan, has tasked the Nigerian government to establish more sophisticated medical laboratories.

According to Hassan, this is to enable the accurate diagnosis of infections and production of vaccines for their treatment.

The professor stated this while delivering the fourth inaugural lecture of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State.

The lecture was titled, “From wet to dry lab: exploring the microbial world for a healthier nation.”

He also urged the Federal Government through the National Universities Commission to “purposefully review the existing curriculum for Medical Laboratory Science, to include contents in dry lab towards achieving desired goals”.

“We cannot be doing the same thing the same way and expect the same results. Therefore, there must be a considerable handshake between dry and wet laboratories for us to be at par with global movement in Medical Laboratory Practice”, he said.

“The lessons from COVID-l9 pandemic are sufficient to redirect our thinking as government, practitioners and professionals in the health sectors. The entire globe was at the mercy of accurate diagnosis of the infection for treatment, strain typing, and pathology as well as vaccine development.

“The use of wet and dry laboratories comes in handy to provide direction for treatment and vaccine development.

“As part of preparedness for the unseen future, I advocate as a recommendation that that government at all levels should establish more sophisticated laboratories in line with global best practices in medical laboratory and ensure adequate training and remuneration of personnel involved in medical laboratory diagnostics”.