Health
MLSCN Urges Public Laboratories To Seek International Accreditation
By Mercy Sawok
The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has urged publicly owned medical laboratories to pursue international accreditation to strengthen the quality, reliability and credibility of laboratory services across the country.
Dr Donald Ofili, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of MLSCN, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja during the presentation of ISO 15189:2022 accreditation and re-accreditation certificates to six medical laboratory facilities.
The accredited facilities are International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Lagos Laboratory, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) Diagnostics Laboratory, Labcrest Medical Diagnostics and Clinic, Agape Laboratory Services Ltd. and OncoGenomics Laboratories, while EL-Lab Laboratories received re-accreditation.
Ofili said that none of the six accredited facilities was government-owned, urging public laboratories to attain similar standards by embracing accreditation and strengthening quality management systems across their operations nationwide.
He described ISO 15189:2022 as an internationally recognised benchmark for the competence, quality and impartiality of medical laboratories, providing assurance that services met globally accepted professional standards consistently.
According to him, accreditation demonstrates that a laboratory’s management system, technical competence and reported results are dependable, accurate and fit for purpose in supporting quality patient care.
He explained that accreditation decisions were made by an Independent Advisory Committee (IAC) following assessments conducted by the MLSCN Accreditation Service (MLSCN-AS), ensuring transparency and professional oversight throughout.
Ofili emphasised that he did not interfere with accreditation decisions, noting that structural separation and operational safeguards within MLSCN-AS were designed to protect impartiality and prevent conflicts of interest.
He said accredited laboratories were required to maintain compliance, while periodic surveillance visits were conducted to ensure standards were sustained and quality systems remained effective over time.
“Quality-assured laboratory science is a right of every Nigerian, not a privilege,” Ofili said, reaffirming the council’s commitment to ensuring dependable laboratory results and quality services nationwide.
He said accreditation would improve patient safety, promote reliable results, enhance international recognition, support research and collaboration, improve competitiveness and foster continual quality improvement across laboratories.
Ofili said accreditation was particularly important for facilities such as IOM and IHVN laboratories because of their roles in disease surveillance, public health response and emergency preparedness.
He added that accreditation could strengthen confidence among donors, development partners and regulators by demonstrating that laboratory processes and results met internationally recognised quality standards consistently.
Dr Casmir Ifeanyi, President of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), commended the facilities for undergoing the rigorous accreditation process and achieving international recognition.
Ifeanyi also commended MLSCN for providing independent assessments against international standards, saying the process would contribute significantly to improving laboratory practice and service delivery nationwide.
He urged the Federal Government to encourage public laboratories to adopt quality management systems and pursue accreditation, noting that they handled a significant volume of medical testing.
According to him, modern equipment alone does not make a laboratory compliant with quality standards, citing differences in infrastructure, safety procedures and quality systems among facilities.
Mr Samuel Felle, President of the Guild of Medical Laboratory Directors (GMLD), congratulated the accredited facilities and commended MLSCN management for promoting excellence, professionalism and integrity within the profession.
Felle urged the laboratories to sustain the standards achieved and called for the establishment of a Healthcare Bank to provide financing for critical sector needs.
He said such a financing institution could support the procurement of laboratory equipment, reagents and other healthcare commodities required to improve diagnostic and medical services.
Dr Elochukwu Adibo, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EL-Lab Laboratories, described accreditation as a major milestone because it subjected laboratories to independent external assessment.
Adibo said EL-Lab had maintained ISO accreditation through five cycles since 2013, emphasising that maintaining accreditation was more difficult than attaining it in practice.
He said sustaining accreditation required continuous staff training, consistency in operations and strong management commitment to quality improvement and compliance with established international standards.
Adibo appealed to MLSCN to consider reducing some regulatory costs for accredited laboratories to encourage more facilities to participate in the accreditation programme nationwide.
Mrs Doris Calistus, Medical Laboratory Director of Agape Laboratory Services Ltd., said the accreditation demonstrated that the facility had successfully passed rigorous external audits.
She said the certification would strengthen the reproducibility and standardisation of laboratory results, while enhancing confidence among clients, healthcare providers and regulatory authorities alike.
Mrs Faduola Oluwakemi, Managing Director of OncoGenomics Laboratory, said accreditation was particularly significant because of the facility’s work in DNA testing and forensic investigations.
She added that the laboratory was also involved in prenatal and postnatal investigations, making adherence to internationally recognised quality standards especially important for service delivery.
According to her, the accreditation strengthened confidence in the laboratory’s results and ensured that findings met recognised quality standards locally and internationally for healthcare applications.
The stakeholders urged more laboratories, particularly public facilities, to embrace ISO 15189:2022 accreditation and sustain compliance to improve the quality of medical laboratory services nationwide.(NAN)
Edited by Abiemwense Moru
