“LABORATORY PRACTICE IN GHANA GOES BEYOND THOSE TWO LINES”.
Interestingly, a lot of people [including MOs] always have the wrong perception that diagnosis of diseases are broadly automated and thus requires little effort and skills for its practice.
The usage of Rapid Diagnostic Test kits [RDT’s] is not the overall picture of Lab practice. In cases of emergency and unavailability of infrastructure/resources, creates room for point-of-care testing hence the usage of the RDTs.
It is very exciting but misleading when certain non-laboratory professionals hold to the notion that laboratory results are generated within a LINE or those TWO LINES.
These tend to consequently make life unbearable and difficult for those whose survival depends on the results generated by unlicensed laboratory scientists.
Since a nation’s health system broadly depends on the various professionals, it is solely dependent on the investment in the diagnostics department. Hence, the practice of modern medicine cannot hold without adequate preparations and management of the profession.
Besides, not every LINE means negative or those TWO LINES mean positive. It takes the competence of Laboratory Scientists to determine and help in the diagnosis or, when indicated, to screen for metabolic diseases and monitor treatments or detect complications.
There is no denying the fact the laboratory facilities in the country are woefully inadequate. Ghana has not developed national laboratory standards to meet the requirements for quality and safety.
Consequently, most laboratory facilities in the country have inadequate space or are inappropriate for their testing needs.
The existence of a laboratory policy will see to provide at each level of healthcare delivery, laboratory facilities appropriately designed to ensure a correct functional and operational environment for effective performance and service delivery.
It is against these backdrops that Medical Laboratory Scientists are mounting evidence-based pressure and necessary policy on the ministry of health to launch the National Health Laboratory Policy [which has been prepared since 2013 and lied to rot] for the betterment of our healthcare delivery system.
To be continued…
© Michael A. Kelly