The Federal Government has called on the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) to strengthen regulation, eliminate quackery, and ensure that laboratory services across the country meet global standards.
Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adekunle Salako, made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja at the 12th Induction and Oath-Taking Ceremony for over 400 foreign-trained graduates of Medical Laboratory Science, as well as the commissioning of the reconstructed MLSCN Golden Arena.
He said strong regulatory oversight was essential to safeguarding the public from preventable diagnostic errors and ensuring that medical laboratories operate with professionalism, accuracy, and credibility.
Salako reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting MLSCN in fulfilling its statutory duties. “The journey toward Universal Health Coverage relies on quality laboratory services that reduce errors, cut waste, prevent unnecessary repeat tests, and ensure affordable and efficient care for all Nigerians,” he said.
He added that improved regulation, better training, and ongoing reforms were building the systems required to restore public confidence in diagnostic services.
According to him, “The drive to enhance population health outcomes depends on the ability of medical laboratory scientists to deliver precise, timely, and reliable laboratory results that support early detection and effective public health response.”
Speaking on the broader health sector strategy, Salako noted: “As we work to unlock the healthcare value chain, your competence inspires investor confidence, stimulates local production of diagnostic tools, and reduces reliance on imports. In safeguarding national health security, your roles in disease detection, surveillance, and outbreak response are indispensable.”
The minister also commended MLSCN for maintaining standards, enforcing discipline, accrediting institutions, and combating quackery.
Earlier, Acting Registrar of MLSCN, Dr. Donald Ofili, urged the inductees to embrace continuous learning in emerging fields such as molecular diagnostics and digital health, stressing that the Council would not hesitate to prosecute professionals involved in unethical practices.
He said the inductees had completed a rigorous 12-month adaptation programme in accredited teaching hospitals across the six geopolitical zones.
The programme, he explained, was designed to bridge gaps between foreign training and Nigeria’s disease patterns, operational realities, and professional expectations.
“Under seasoned Coordinators and teaching hospital management, these inductees were immersed in high-pressure diagnostic environments, developed practical competencies and honed the discipline required for safe and accurate laboratory practice,” he said.
Ofili added that their successful completion of the programme and the final professional examination showed they were ready to practise.
He reminded them of the weight of their responsibility: “The laboratory scientist is the custodian of diagnostic truth. Your work guides clinical judgement, informs public health strategy and determines treatment outcomes.”
He stressed that “precision is mandatory” in the profession and that ethics were “non-negotiable,” noting that human lives depend directly on their decisions in the laboratory.
