Nigeria lacks capacity for testing coronavirus, says lab. Scientists

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage and humble the whole world, the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria(AMLSN) ha said Nigeria does not have the capacity for testing diseases of this magnitude, that what the country has is inadequate, and not properly spread.

The National Publicity Secretary of AMLSN, Comrade Casmiar Ifeanyi while Speaking I at a TV news bulletin on the preparedness of the county to tackle the virus.

Ifeanyi decried  a situation where specimens are moved from one part of the country to the other which according to him exposes the country to more dangers.

“when there was  a suspected case in Enugu, the patient had to be hurled around, as specimens were moved across the country, the more you move spacemen around, the more vulnerable the community becomes.

“Now in the entire northern Nigeria, you have the governor of kastina state, Alhaji Masari, complaining   that they have to take spacemen to Abuja.

“I do not think that a country that is ready to combat this pandemic should be caught  napping as we have been cought so much.

His worries heightened when looked from the perspective that in a case of this magnitude plaguing the nation, the body of laboratory scientists AMLSN are no where in the picture.

Ifeanyi spoke, “we have had a presidential committee, we have had a task team by the government and laboratory seems to be missing in the entire picture,… laboratory seems not to be involved.”

He said that  it’s  unimaginable that a country with well over 60 teaching hospitals, and over 22 federal medical centres scattered across the country, non of the facilities has the capacity for testing of coronavirus.

The AMLSN National Publicity Secretary said the challenge been faced currently by the nation is not about fund, in as much as the government has demonstrated political will, at the outset of the outbreak by releasing N10 billion.

Of the money released, he expressed reservation  that nothing judiciously seems to have been done with the fund, as there has not been any laboratory materials nor infrastructure procurement made.

“I want to ask Nigerians a pertinent question, we are told that testing are being done, who is conducting the texting? When am telling you here that at my level, and as a senior personality in the national body and as a lab. scientists, we are not carried along.

“You set up committees, the people that would define, classify, categorize patient’s  profile in a situation like this are put at the backyard, and not carried along, we are concerned, we  smell there must be something circumspect about what is going on,” he insisted.

Nigerians especially those outside the country who have seen the level of preparedness being put in place by countries in the west, knowing the shabby nature of things in the country have been warning and praying that the disease doesn’t flare up far beyond what the country is experiencing at the moment.

When put into perspective, the manner with which China set up hospital test centres to tackle the pandemic, in  Germany1000 hospitals are being built in expectation of any eventuality.
The one million questions on the lips of Nigerians and the world is that apart from, release of humongous funds to tackle COVID 19, how really prepared is the country.?

The funds released cannot do the magic untill the right thing and the that we are going to have more patient, what kind of funding do we need at this time, and in what areas, should those fundings be channeled?

As at Wednesday 25th, March, Nigeria has recorded 46 cases, Lagos state has reported cases of 30 persons, Abuja 8, Ogun 3 while Ekiti,  Oyo, Edo and Osun states have one each.