Health Minister warns against providing cover for quacks

Minister of health Prof. Isaac Adewale on Wednesday warned Medical Laboratory Scientists and other health professionals not to harbor unregistered practitioners and other quacks among them.

Adewale who was speaking at the 52nd Annual Scientific Conference of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria in Jalingo said the presence of quackery and professional malpractice mainly harbored by some unscrupulous individuals and unregistered laboratories was a source of worry to the ministry.

He called on the association not to rest on its oars in fishing out quacks in the system and apply applicable laws abrogate the trend which according to him is a source of threat to public health.

“You must act fast so as to avert the danger of leaving the fortunes of patients and clients in the hands of quacks or impostors.

“We in the ministry of health shall continue to strengthen health regulatory bodies for optimum performance and quality. We will strengthen laboratory accreditation and monitoring to prevent quacks having any hiding place.

The lives of everybody is sacred and must be treated as such. Every clinical sample must be treated as a matter of life and survival. Professional malpractice must be abhorred by your members,” he warned.

Represented by the National Coordinator, National Cancer Control Programme, Dr. Ramatu Hassan, the Minister appealed to all health professionals to promote the spirit of shared responsibility and team work as basic requirement for quality health system.

He urged health professionals to be ‘patient centered’, eschew strikes and place the needs of the patients above their own with the primary aim of saving lives.

Key note speaker, Marycelin Baba, a professor of medical virology, college of medical sciences, University of Maiduguri in her presentation harped on the need for early diagnosis as a best approach in the treatment of cancer.

She reminded laboratory scientists of their key role in saving lives and enjoined them to always remember that good and accurate diagnosis is key to better, accurate and enhance treatment of patients.