Health
Firm targets 500 diagnostic centres to improve Nigeria’s testing capacity
Deborah Tolu-Kolawole
A healthcare company, Shalina Diagnostics, has unveiled an ambitious plan to establish 500 diagnostic testing points across Nigeria within the next three years through a franchise model, a move aimed at improving access to affordable and quality laboratory services.
The initiative comes amid growing concerns over limited access to reliable diagnostic services in Nigeria, a challenge health experts say continues to undermine disease detection, treatment outcomes and overall healthcare delivery.
Speaking at a two-day Shalina Healthcare Franchise Summit in Abuja on Wednesday, the Managing Director of Shalina Diagnostics, Abbas Virji, described diagnostic laboratories as the weakest link in Nigeria’s healthcare system, noting that many patients either lack access to testing facilities or receive delayed and unreliable results.
According to him, inadequate diagnostic services contribute significantly to preventable deaths, as many patients are unable to obtain accurate diagnoses before treatment.
“We believe diagnostics labs remain the weakest link in the healthcare system today. There are simply not enough laboratories providing quality services that people can rely on,” Virji said.
He explained that the company decided to venture into diagnostic services and equipment production to address the country’s testing gap and improve healthcare outcomes.
“What we’re trying to do is solve a very real problem of people in Nigeria not knowing the root cause of their illness. Many people are not getting tested correctly because tests are either too expensive, of poor quality or simply inaccessible,” he said.
Virji said the company’s expansion strategy would rely on partnerships with entrepreneurs, pharmacists, clinicians and laboratory operators across the country, who would operate franchise outlets under a unified quality assurance system.
Under the model, samples collected at franchise centres would be processed at central reference laboratories equipped with advanced diagnostic technology, while results would be delivered electronically within specified turnaround times.
He noted that increased scale would help lower testing costs for patients.
“By having more collection points and more scale, we can achieve lower prices for testing. The power of the community coming together and operating under one system is how we solve this problem,” he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of Shalina Diagnostics, Nalin Singla, identified three major challenges confronting the country’s diagnostics sector: inadequate laboratory coverage, high costs associated with premium testing centres, and inconsistent quality among many local laboratories.
He said the company’s franchise model was built around three pillars—quality, affordability and availability.
“Our objective is to make quality diagnostics accessible to ordinary Nigerians while maintaining international standards and fast turnaround times,” he said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Shalina Healthcare Nigeria, Opeyemi Akinyele, said the diagnostics expansion aligns with the company’s long-standing commitment to improving health outcomes through affordable healthcare solutions.
“We are anchored in three pillars—Quality, Affordability and Availability—and we remain committed to delivering better health outcomes for every Nigerian,” she said.
Making the clinical case for improved diagnostics, Associate Professor of Surgery and Consultant Surgeon at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr S.A. Sani, stressed that laboratory testing plays a central role in modern healthcare.
“Diagnostics affect approximately 70 per cent of all healthcare decision-making. They guide prevention, screening, treatment and monitoring. Without them, clinicians are flying blind,” he said.
Nigeria’s healthcare sector continues to face significant diagnostic challenges, particularly in rural and underserved communities where access to quality laboratory services remains limited. Public health experts have repeatedly identified delayed diagnosis as a major contributor to poor treatment outcomes for diseases ranging from infectious illnesses to cancer and non-communicable diseases.
The expansion plan is expected to leverage Shalina Healthcare’s existing footprint in Nigeria and across Africa. The parent company has operated on the continent for more than four decades, with a presence in 18 countries and over 100 distribution depots.
In Nigeria, it has operated for 27 years, runs a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Lagos and has more than 150 products registered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.
Shalina Diagnostics, launched three years ago, currently operates more than 30 locations across four countries and says it intends to significantly deepen its presence in Nigeria through the franchise programme.
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