NCDC Launches Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory, Says It’ll Improve Testing Standard

Ayodeji Ake 

To improve testing standards and advanced diagnostic services, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has launched an Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory facility at its Lagos office. 

Speaking at the event, the Director General of NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, noted the facility has been set up for advanced diagnostic services and laboratory-based surveillance capacity for Malaria, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Mycotic Diseases, and similar diseases.

“This integrated laboratory diagnosis facility will be a game-changer in the fight against infectious diseases of public health importance in Nigeria.

“Providing accurate, early, and comprehensive diagnosis, will enable informative decision-making for enhanced patient care, proactive disease surveillance and outbreak management, optimize antimicrobial stewardship and reduced antimicrobial resistance.

“It will also inform research and development for new diagnostic tests and treatments, improve patient safety and reduce healthcare costs, and enhance global health security through rapid detection and response among others,” he said.

Establishing this integrated disease laboratory signifies a paradigm shift and will add critical value. It will enhance diagnostic capacity, and facilitate robust surveillance systems. 

Lauding the effort, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, said the facility will aid the evidence-based practice of medicine, and that involves making the correct accurate diagnosis for appropriate treatments.

He said: “We’re trying to drive the culture of testing and treating with positive results and for us to have a reference laboratory in Lagos funded by our partners is a step in the right direction, adding that, it’s going to drive that collaboration between the federal and the state’s public health laboratories.

“Even though the government does not have the resources to establish such laboratories in every  state, this capacity transformation can happen from here to public health Laboratories so that we are empowered at the state, so we don’t need to put unnecessary pressure on the CDC especially when we come under pressure.”