The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has presented International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 15189:2022 Accreditation Certificates to six medical laboratory facilities across the country.

The facilities include the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Lagos; the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) Diagnostics Laboratory, Abuja; Labcrest Medical Diagnostics, Abuja; EL-Lab Laboratory, Lagos; Agape Laboratory Services, Lagos; and Oncogenomics Laboratory, Lagos.

Registrar of MLSCN, Donald Ofili, who presented the certificates on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the development would strengthen reliable diagnostic services in Nigeria and expressed the commitment to the promotion of quality-assured laboratory results for every Nigerian.

He added that the accreditation enhances patient safety, supports accurate clinical decision-making, strengthens disease surveillance and improves Nigeria’s competitiveness in global health services.

Ofili observed that each of these six facilities was subjected to a rigorous assessment by the MLSCN Accreditation Service (MLSCN-AS) adding that the findings of these assessments were meticulously reviewed against the provisions of the ISO 15189:2022 standard, the internationally recognised benchmark for the competence, quality, and impartiality of medical laboratories.

He said , Thereafter, the assessment reports were presented before the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC), a body constituted of men and women of impeccable professional standing in accreditation and quality management, who deliberated dispassionately on the evidence before them and, on that basis, granted approval to these facilities.

The Registrar stated that the MLSCN accreditation service is not an arbitrary or discretionary creation but a creature of statute, established pursuant to the MLSCN Act, with clear legislative mandate to accredit medical laboratory facilities across Nigeria.

He observed that the exercise will boost quality, patient-centred healthcare for all Nigerians and assured that the council will continue to align its operations with international best practice, and will keep its processes as transparent, and evidence-driven as the standard demands, no more, no less.

Ofili explained that the ISO 15189:2022 accreditation constitutes objective, independently verified evidence that a laboratory’s management system, technical competence, and reported results are dependable and fit for the purposes for which clinicians and patients rely upon them.

He stated that any result issued by the six facilities may be trusted with confidence to inform diagnosis, guide treatment, and, ultimately, safeguard the life of the patient.

The Registrar listed the benefits attendant upon this accreditation to include assurance of reliable and reproducible results upon which clinicians may confidently act; the enhancement of patient safety through the minimisation of errors arising from unreliable testing; international recognition that opens avenues for collaboration, research partnership, and mutual recognition of results across borders.

Others benefits according to him, include improved competitiveness and institutional reputation, positioning accredited facilities as preferred providers for patients, partners, and referring clinicians; and the entrenchment of a culture of continual improvement, as accreditation is not a singular achievement but a living system that compels ongoing self-evaluation and correction.

He pointed out that for facilities such as IOM and IHVN, whose work bears directly on disease surveillance and public health response, accredi willtation further strengthens donor, partner, and regulatory confidence, an increasingly indispensable prerequisite for participation in national and international health programmes.

Ofili observed that the six medical laboratory facilities were those whose diligence, technical discipline, and sustained investment in quality have earned them this globally recognised mark of competence.

Ofili said that the accreditation reflects the compliance alid the laboratory facilities at the point of assessment and urged them to sustain, and to build upon, the standard of practice that has earned them the distinction.

He noted that MLSCN-AS, as an integral part of its established process, will conduct periodic surveillance visits to the facilities to verify continued compliance with the ISO 15189:2022 standard , as a necessary safeguard to preserve the integrity of the accreditation you now hold and the confidence which patients and clinicians’ repose in it.

The registrar called on all medical laboratory facility across Nigeria to embrace quality and to actively pursue accreditation. I make particular and deliberate mention of government-owned facilities.

Also speaking, President of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) Dr Casmir Ifeanyiraised concerns over the lack of accreditation of laboratories in many public tertiary health institutions across Nigeria, warning that the situation poses a serious threat to patient safety.

Ifeanyi who noted that laboratory services were central to the diagnosis and management of patients, observed that while an increasing number of privately owned laboratories are embracing accreditation, many public health institutions, particularly federal tertiary hospitals, have yet to meet the required standards.

He recalled that in 2012, the then Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health directed federal health institutions to pursue, at a minimum, accreditation for their laboratories.

“Up till today, none of them have heed that call,” he said..

Ifeanyi said the disparity was particularly evident in laboratories that had benefited from support from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), noting that such laboratories often had better-established quality management systems than laboratories operated directly by public institutions.

He urged the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, and the Minister of State for Health, Dr Adekunle Salako to revisit the issue and ensure that laboratories in federal tertiary health institutions obtained accreditation.

“Unless and until we have laboratories in our federal tertiary health institutions with accreditations, all that goes on there is gambling, trial and error. And what are you doing trial and experimentation with human life?” he asked.

He warned that the absence of accreditation could compromise the reliability of test results and, consequently, the treatment decisions made by clinicians.

Ifeanyi said the increasing participation of private laboratories in accreditation was encouraging but insufficient, stressing that public facilities must also improve their standards.