Medical Lab Council, Bloom Unite Against Medical Tourism

The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bloom Public Health, a non-governmental organisation, to change the narrative of poor health indices in the country and discourage health tourism through improved diagnostics capability.

MLSCN registrar, Dr Tosan Erhabor, who spoke during the signing of the MoU in Abuja, said the partnership can save the country the $2blllon reportedly spent annually by citizens in search of qualitative diagnosis while emphasising the agency’s commitment to the country’s health laboratory system.

He expressed confidence that the collaboration would lead to a culture of accurate and reliable medical laboratory test results for the benefit of citizens.

  “The coming together of MLSCN and Bloom Public Health, promises to change the narrative of poor health indices in our country, discourage health tourism and potentially save the country the $2blllon reportedly spent annually by the citizens in search qualitative diagnosis,” Erhabor said.

While envisioning the transformation of both private and public laboratories nationwide, the registrar stated that the immediate focus is on upscaling the capacity of laboratories at the primary healthcare level.

He stated that they will embark on building capacity for medical laboratory professionals particularly at the PHC level, thereby paving the way for a highly-skilled workforce and continuous improvement in the health sector.

“By focusing on capacity building for medical laboratory professionals, particularly at the primary healthcare level, the initiative strives to create a highly skilled workforce. This approach aligns with the long-term goal of ensuring adequate infrastructure and technically sound scientists throughout the health system,” he said.

He the partnership will start its activities in the six geopolitical zones and with one PHC in each zone. He however emphasised that the partnership would move to higher tiers of the health sector, based on the level of success achieved at the PHC.

On his part, the CEO of Bloom Public Health, Prof Chimezie Anyakora, assured that his organisation is ready to merge its non-governmental agility and ability to attract funding, with the reach and expertise of the MLSCN, in order to ensure the transformation of laboratories at the PHC, for the good of the patients.