By Ingram Osigwe
El-Lab boss, Prince Elochukwu Adibo has added another feather to his cap. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of El-Lab recently scored a big one when his firm was presented with ISO 15189:2012 Accreditation/Certificate. El–Lab was also issued with certificates of service/merit awards. The events took place at the medical outfit’s complex at FESTAC TOWN, Lagos. El-Lab is a pioneer internationally accredited medical laboratory in Nigeria. Speaking at the occasion, Prince Adibo said it was a thing of joy that El- Lab’s contributions to the country’s health sector has have been recognized. His words: “Today is a very remarkable day to our organization, a day all quality loving persons in the health sector and the public have gathered to recognize and celebrate the mark of achievement of quality in the health care delivery system in Nigeria”
A visibly elated El- Lab MD/CEO further said: “For Medical laboratories world over, we seek accreditation to ISO 15189:2012 which is the particular requirement for quality and competence. It is an internationally recognized standard that prescribes the requirements necessary for diagnostic laboratories to demonstrate the quality and competence of their services, as well as consistently deliver technically valid test or examination results as they are known in the standard”
EL-LAB LTD is an indigenous quality-driven branded medical laboratory company with a global outlook and worldwide commitment. The Laboratory had a very humble beginning in July 1998. It started operation at a small partitioned apartment but with a VERY CLEAR MISSION of being a leading and trusted INDIGENOUS medical diagnostic institution with internationally acceptable standards. In its 19 years of existence, El- Lab has imbibed quality culture and embraced best practices in continuous quality improvement.
Prince Adibo said the awards was a mission accomplished, recalling that on December 01, 2016 in Abuja the Hon Minister of Health,Issac Adewole, through the Accreditation service of MLSCN under the headship of Tosan Erharbor presented ISO 15189:2012 International Accreditation to three (3) deserving laboratories based in Lagos State, of which El-Lab is the only indigenous private laboratory.
According to data from Research gate taken from American Journal of Pathology, there were as at 2014, 380 medical laboratories accredited to International Standards in Sub Saharan Africa. Ninety-one (91%) were in South Africa, 37 out of the 49 countries had no Laboratories accredited to international quality standards. Of these labs, 78% were private, 17% were public while 5% were research labs.
In Nigeria today, there are over 12,000 listed medical laboratories (of which less than 5000 are registered) but none had ISO 15189:2012 accreditation as at November 2016 except one which has accreditation from the South African National Accreditation Service (SANAS).
In Africa’s most populous country with over 170 million people with only over 200,000 qualified Medical Laboratory Scientists and a handful qualified Pathologists. The above grim statistics led Adibo to declared that, “we (Nigeria)must strive to improve on this poor and dismal ratio of about 0.01 Internationally Accredited Medical Laboratory to One (1) million Nigerians rather than engaging in fruitless bickering and unhealthy rivalry in various health institutions while Nigerians who certainly deserve more are left to bear this brunt”.
He was of the view that medical laboratories (and in fact all organizations) need quality. And that achieving this quality to an international standard (ISO) requires hard work, commitment and can also be very expensive. Adibo said El-Lab is ready to collaborate, and partner to spread quality, build capacity and train to ensure that “our future and medical laboratory environments are transformed so that reliable medical laboratory services are available all over Nigeria”.
The El-Lab boss however, rued that “when our practice fails to improve, foreign medical personnel would take advantage and cart away their gains in scarce foreign exchange. I therefore call on all stake holders to rise up to this challenge to put Nigeria in its rightful place in the global health care map”.
He paid glowing tribute to all those who in one way or the other contributed to making El-Lab received the certificates of accreditation and awards. He specially thanked, Almighty God “without whom all of these wouldn’t have been possible”.
He also thanked the president, Mohammadu Buhari and the Health Minister for creating an enabling environment to improve quality services in the health sector.
Adibo was also full of effusive praises for the Lagos State Ministry of Health and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, the HEFAMAA team, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government and Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), for their mentorship and support.
He equally expressed gratitude to the entire Medical Laboratory Scientists in Nigeria through the Association of Medical. Laboratory. Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) and the clinical pathologists, El-Lab’s valued clients who have believed in the firm’s consistently reliable services all these years and Comrade Ayodele Adewale, the last immediate past chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area for his unwavering support at all times.
He also specially thanked his lovely wife, Chioma Adibo for her endless tolerance and unflinching support as well as his dedicated staff at El-Lab.
Ingram Osigwe is the MD of Fullpage Int’l comm ltd.