By Ahmad Umar
Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria has appealed to the Federal Government to reconstitute the governing board of the Council in order to curb the increase of quackery, malpractice and wrong diagnosis in hospitals and Clinics.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Association, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Casmir Ifeanyi, made the appeal at a press briefing shortly after a General Meeting of the Association in Gombe , northeast of the country.
He noted that the absence of regulation of practitioners in the country has contributed to the death of many Nigerians and encouraged the high incidence of medical tourism in Nigeria.
Dr. Ifeanyi called on the legislature as the conscience of the society, to rise up and protect the fragile Nigeria health system by not allowing the proposed amendment of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria Act Cap M25, LFN2004.
“The proposed amendment is a retrogressive agenda solely for the aggrandizement of section of the health system. Unarguably, the amendment will make worse the precarious and very deplorable Nigeria health indices.
“ well intentioned as the proposed amendment may have been portrayed, it is not altruistic. Nigeria will be endangered as this is a surreptitious plot to remove the regulatory vault for the provision of Medical Laboratory Services to the people across the country
“we had obtained more than eight judicial interpretation and declaratory judgment across the country. The judiciary holds that the medical laboratory science is a profession distinct from medicine and that there is no conflict between the MLSCN Act Cap M25, LFN2004 and the MDCN Act Cap M, LFN 2004.
He said that the amendment will warrant a perilous situation in Nigeria where everyone could practice and provide medical laboratory services discretionally, anywhere and anyhow without regulatory controls.
