Inaccurate Medical Laboratory Test Results and Misdiagnoses in Nigeria Widely Reported by Media
Clinical pathology laboratories operate with little effective regulatory oversight in West African nation
In Nigeria, patients are complaining about the problems caused by both misdiagnosis and faulty medical laboratory test results. There is also the problem that not all physicians and patients have access to a high quality clinical laboratory.
Nigeria’s news media is giving this situation wide play. Government officials have been forced to acknowledge the poor state of the country’s clinical laboratory testing services. In turn, this has led to great scrutiny of medical laboratory testing in Nigeria.
For the pathology and laboratory medicine profession in developed nations, these widely-publicized issues in Nigeria are consistent with the global trend of standardization in the operation and management of clinical laboratories. Within Nigeria, there is recognition that many misdiagnoses happen because physicians and patients frequently lack access to a reliable and high-quality clinical laboratory.
