NASS asked not to amend Medical Laboratory Council Act by Haru

The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria weekend raised alarm over the proposed amendments of the Medical Laboratory Scientists Council of Nigeria Act 2004 submitted to the National Assembly by the Federal Ministry of Health.

Rising from its special annual general meeting, the association said the proposed amendments of the regulatory body of the medical laboratory profession would worsen the country’s health sector.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the AMLSN, Dr Ifeanyichukwu Casmir Ifeanyi, said the amendment was a secret plot to remove the regulatory vault for the provision of medical laboratory services in the country, a development he said will endanger the lives of Nigerians.

“The proposed amendments will warrant a dangerous situation where everyone can practice and, hence, provide medical laboratory services discretionally, anywhere without regulatory controls, which will be catastrophic for all health seeking members of the public,” he said.

He alleged that the proposed amendment was a move by medical doctors to downgrade and decimate the medical laboratory sciences profession and its workforce in Nigeria. 

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to issue a white paper on the report of Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmad’s Presidential Committee of Experts on Inter-Professional Relationships in the health Sector.