Ministry calls for continuous accreditation for effective healthcare services

The Federal Ministry of Health has called for continuous accreditation, describing it as a necessity for effective health care delivery and social services.

This was stated at the World Accreditation Day Celebration organized by the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) in Abuja, yesterday, themed, ‘Accreditation: Supporting the delivery of health and social services’.

Speaking at the event, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, represented by Dr. Wapada Balami, said that the need for accreditation is now, noting that it is coming at a period of heightened clamor for the regeneration of our health system.

He stressed on the challenges faced by the medical laboratory system, saying that, “ the field of accreditation is more or less an uncharted territory, which is as surprising as it is worrisome, the correlation between the absence of a culture of accreditation and the challenges facing our medical laboratory system is not difficult to understand.”

He charged all teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centers (FMCs), to take part in the accreditation process, “ All teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centers (FMCs) in the country are hereby given a maximum of 24 months to get their laboratories duly accredited.

“We can no longer fold our arms and watch other nations, including sister nations, move their health systems forward, the excuse that the process of accreditation has nothing to do with us is clearly self serving, unpatriotic and flawed,” he noted.

In his welcome address, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MLSCN, Prof. Anthony O. Emeribe, said that accreditation is not only about labs but also about every human endeavor, noting that “ Accreditation creates an essential framework for health and social care providers to improve their processes and environment, which stimulates continuous quality improvement to the patient experience, and results in increased confidence in the outcomes.

“Health and social care are the heart of the politics, a healthy man is a wealthy man, one needs health to perform very well in any aspect of the Nigeria economy. Accreditation is to ensure that there is competence in every aspect of human endeavor so that if an institution is mandated to carry out a particular task it been done efficiently, diligently and also in a timely manner. Either in the health sector, aviation, financial sector, engineering or building sector.

“This year accreditation day is to create awareness, advocacy and to prim the various institutions to key into this accreditation, one good reason why Nigerians leave this shore for medical tourism abroad is because of poor medical diagnosis if there is rarely that conviction to take on accreditation by the various tertiary institution the number of Nigerians leaving this shore for proper diagnosis and management of their cases will reduce drastically.”

Chairman, Governing Board, MLSCN, Dr. Nathaniel N. Shidalli, said that accreditation couldn’t be ignored considering the fact that the management has put Nigeria on the global map for modern health system.

His words: “ We cannot further ignore the transformative philosophy of accreditation, if there was a sector whose processes and apparatus make a strong case for accreditation, it is health and social care.

He stressed on the need to embrace change in order to have a better health delivery and social services.