By Ruth Oginyi
The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to proclaim the constitution of governing boards of regulatory agencies in the health sector especially the Laboratory Council of Nigeria to curb the menace of quackery in the system.
The association said guarded quackery is a major problem in the country’s health system.
Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi, National President of the Association stated this during their 208th National Executive Council Meeting held in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
He noted that those who had no requisite credentials were being employed in public health institutions to be manning medical tests which was promoting quackery in the sector.
Dr Ifeanyi urged members of the public to condemn it and hold the management of the health institutions where it is happening accountable to end the ugly trend.
“The only way to stem the tide of quackery is to be carrying the people; the victims, the likely victims along.
“It is because of the activities of the menace quacks and the preponderance of malpractice that we are calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quickly proclaim the constitution and hence, inauguration of the governing boards of regulatory agencies in health especially that of the Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria.
“It is the governing board that can set up the tribunal that will investigate and try a culprit. For more than two years now, the Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria has been without a board and therefore, the governing board disciplinary committee is now set in abeyance.
“For quacks, we are all out. We have given out platforms for membership of the public to bring reports on activities of persons they consider quacks or they think may have wronged them in the cause of seeking service or cases of negligence which most times are perpetuated by quacks
“I also want to say that most places you go to to obtain testing or Medical Laboratory testing are not operated by our members, are not registered with the Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria and that is because we have retired the police, the governing board is the police. The government must restore the boards so the boards can carry out their mandate of regulating practitioners, regulating facilities, and curbing malpractice.
“The worry we have about quackery which we are complaining about is not the quackery that is happening in the private, that is easy to curtail. It is the quackery happening in public health institutions, those owned by the government that is a major trouble. We have tagged that guarded quackery. You are a quack under government protection.
“When you employ a zoologist and post him to be conducting testing, he is there protected by the government as a quack. When you employ a Science Laboratory Technologist who is not a Medical Laboratory Scientist and you deploy him to a medical laboratory and that is the case in many states of the federation, the government is providing a shield for quacks.
“When you employ those who studied Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology as single honours without any form of licence and you deploy them to provide testing in any form or guide, that is guarded quackery by government.
“We are up against them, we are raising alarm to the society to know that that is the practice and to condemn it and to hold the management of these hospitals to account to ensure that we do not have wrong persons dealing with testing.
“Testing is a very delicate and dexterity endeavour. It must be manned by somebody who has the requisite training and licensing. It is not for charlatans, it is not an all-comers endeavour.
“We are that most pharmacy shops in Nigeria are now laboratories, we are aware that most patent shops in Nigeria are now laboratories. We want to raise an alarm that that is a disaster waiting to happen, a public health disaster”,.