President of the Association of Private Medical Laboratories Ghana, Emmanuel Sarfo, said one of the challenges confronting the practice is the influx of inferior testing tools in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Rainbowradioonline.com, he noted that there was the urgent need to prevent the country from becoming a dumping ground for inferior laboratory equipment or other related items used by practitioners.
He warned that such a practice may lead to false results and diagnostic errors.
Mr Sarfo indicated that some individuals use unapproved routes in bringing into the country substandard test kits, reagents, and chemicals used in major laboratories.
He said when these items arrive in the country, some of their members unknowingly purchase them for their work, which sometimes creates unfortunate situations for them.
“Several individuals bring in test kits, reagents and other chemicals we use in the medical lab departments into the country through unapproved routes. When these items arrive, some of our members who are unaware purchase them. But when you purchase these logistics, you have not attained the standard operating procedure, which we call SOP.
The origin of some of these items is unknown. The work we do is human-centred, and so ideally, the origin of the machines and chemicals should be known. They should also meet the Food and Drugs Authority and Ghana Standards Authority guidelines for such products.”
He stressed that the key thing for practitioners is to ensure that when purchasing these items, they meet the required standards “so that when we use these machines and chemicals to produce results for you, you will know that we are attaining good SPOs. But if you buy them from unapproved sources, that is what will cause the diagnostic errors.
He made the remarks at the commemoration of the 2025 edition of the International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day with a public lecture held on April 15, 2025.
The event was organised by the Ghana Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS), who have marked the 2025 edition of the International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day with a public lecture today, April 15.
The public lecture was held at the CLOGSAG Auditorium in Accra under the theme ‘’Biomedical Laboratory Scientists: Promoting Sustainability in Clinical Diagnostics’’.
International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day is celebrated to increase the awareness of the vital role of medical laboratory scientists in providing quality healthcare – in diagnosis, quality assurance, treatment, research, and other developments in the modern era of medical science.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
