OAUTH Receives Lab Accreditation Certificate As CMD Laments Brain Drain
In accordance with recognised international standard, the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) on Monday presented accreditation certificate to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Laboratory.
Presenting the certificate to the Chief Medical Director, Prof. John Akintunde Okeniyi in Ile-Ife, the the CEO of APIN Public Health Initiatives, one of the implementing partners of SANAS, Dr. Prosper Okonkwo, represented by the organisation’s Deputy CEO, Dr Jay Osi-Samuels, stated that the laboratory accreditation further qualifies the institution for international recognition.
Osi-Samuels noted that the lab would assist greatly in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country and urged the lab workers to imbibe good working attitudes so as to sustain the international recognition of the PCR laboratory.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the presentation, the CMD, Prof. Okeniyi lamented declining staff strength of the institution owing to brain drain in health sector, saying the few available staff have been working under intense stress.
He however noted that despite the loss of staff to the Japa syndrome, the hospital has been coping due to the commitment of the available workforce to health care delivery but appealed to the federal government to equip the hospital with adequate manpower.
In her submission, Mrs Ebunoluwa Aderonke Adejuyigbe the project coordinator, a professor of pediatrics and coordinator of ART Laboratory and Programmes in OAUTHC, said, “The laboratory facility currently has a COBAS analyser (C48oo) for running HIV Viral load as well as Early Infant Diagnosis tests for all patients enrolled in the facility.
She noted that the Laboratory accreditation process is a globally acceptable means of identifying technically competent laboratories and gave assurance that the accreditation certificate will be sustained.
