A proper diagnosis of a health problem is fundamental to commencement of treatment in medical practice. It is for this reason that laboratories are often established both as an integral part of a hospital or as independent entities in the health care delivery system of a country.
A wrong diagnosis could have fatal consequences. There have been too many cases of wrong diagnosis in Nigeria in the last ten odd years. In 2019, a patient in Jimeta, Adamawa state died after a doctor operated on him for a kidney disease which he never had.
In the same year, a Kebbi-based doctor was convicted after erroneously diagnosing a dead baby in the womb and proceeded to operate on the mother to evacuate the dead fetus only to discover that the baby was alive. The discovery came too late however, since the doctor had amputated the baby’s upper limb as he dissected the mother.
The famous human right’s activist late Gani Fawehinmi had lung cancer which was misdiagnosed as asthma. In 2006, a journalist, Bayo Onanuga nearly lost his broken foot which the doctor misdiagnosed and put in a cast. He was lucky the pain caused him to insist that the cast should be taken off. Another doctor examined the foot and was shocked it had been placed in a cast. If the cast had stayed a few hours longer, the foot would have developed gangrene and would have had to be amputated.
In 2020, a Mrs. Odechukwu spent six months taking medication for acute abdominal pain which the doctors had diagnosed as stomach infection or food poisoning, only to discover after another round of tests that she had kidney disease.
Another woman lost her husband to colon cancer which had been diagnosed as ulcer. The list goes on and on. It is therefore not surprising when many Nigerians who can afford it opt to travel abroad for medical care.
Nigeria is facing a serious problem in its health sector due to misdiagnoses and missed diagnosis. Already suffering Nigerians are taking medications for ailments that they do not have; or they are suffering acute pain and being told that there is nothing there.
Many find out the truth about their condition too late. The Nigerian health sector needs immediate and serious attention if the current trend is to be stopped. The constant loss of lives, trauma and economic strain caused by the decay in our medical laboratories and among medical laboratory personnel is not something to be trifled with.
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The problems are many. Nigeria has become a leading dumping ground for substandard rapid test and diagnostic kits, reagents and chemicals due to poor monitoring compliance to laid-down standards.
Unqualified medical lab personnel conduct tests and generate results for doctors to use in making diagnoses; some of the qualified personnel do not have current working licenses or work permits; pharmacy shops – which are easy avenues for quacks to infiltrate the system – are allowed to provide medical laboratory test services; the regulatory framework provided by the federal government is routinely ignored; and the entire health sector suffers from poor regulation and non-validation.
According to some reports, no teaching hospital or federal medical centre in Nigeria has International Certification (ISO 15189) accreditation for the laboratories that they operate.
The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), which the federal government has given the sole responsibility of approving, validating and registering diagnostic kits, reagents and chemicals needs to face up to its responsibilities of sanitizing the practice, and taking disciplinary measures against non-compliance to standards.
The Ministry of Health needs to develop a policy of mandatory accreditation for medical laboratories in Nigeria and should take steps to arrest the proliferation of unlicensed medical laboratories across the nation, especially those run by pharmacy shops.
There should be regular checks and inspections to ensure that lab scientists and technicians adhere to standards and procedures to avoid causing harm or even death to fellow Nigerians.
The Nigerian government should also impose strict sanctions and punitive measures on any laboratory, lab technician or medical personnel found guilty of operating on a false license, running an unregistered or sub-standard laboratory, or any doctor found guilty of carelessly disregarding procedure and due process in handling patients or in making diagnoses.
Indeed, medical personnel should be mindful of their code of ethics in carrying out their task as care givers and health providers who frequently hold the lives of other human beings in their hands.
Doctors who run private practices in particular should desist from insisting on laboratory tests where none are required, just to make a profit. Nigerians are suffering enough as it is. When we go to hospital, we go there seeking health, not death.
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