THE Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Professor Afolabi Lesi, has advocated for more investment in capacity building of healthcare professionals in Nigeria, saying the present output is not commensurate with demand. Speaking during the fifth Induction Ceremony and 10th Anniversary of Medical Laboratory Science of the institution, Lesi said that the country has shortage of manpower in the sector.
“The number we are pushing out today cannot meet the demands for optimal healthcare manpower distribution in the country. We are trying but we know that for every lab scientist you push out, it costs a lot in training. The country has to invest in expanding capacity of our training institutions to produce more health professionals.
At the moment, we are not meeting that demand. And of course, as we are training, people are leaving the system. There is brain drain, there is internal brain drain, people leaving the profession for other professions. “He said more laboratories should be built and the need to expand the laboratory facilities in the country, We don’t have enough laboratories, we need to build capacity in diagnosis across the country. Somebody with coronavirus disease in the North should not have to come to Lagos to diagnose”. On his part, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics and Research, University of Lagos, Prof Oluwole Familoni, said to train lab scientists costs a lot of money and instrument to be able to produce the kind of quality we produce here; we don’t need large numbers. The 65 graduating students comprise of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology specialists; Haematology and Blood Group Serology; Histopathology and Chemical Pathology.
