NCDC boss tasks Governors to build Molecular Testing Laboratories

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau 
With the spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic not slowing down, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu has challenged State Governors to invest in healthcare sector even as he specifically tasked them to build at least one Molecular Testing Laboratory in their states.   He also disclosed that with the growing numbers of medical laboratories being established across the country during this pandemic,  Nigerian citizens in the post-Covid-19 era will no longer suffer from lack of laboratories to diagnose their illnesses.    Speaking on Thursday at the daily press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 Pandemic, Ihekweazu urged State Governors to make it a point of duty to invest in healthcare sector.   According to him, “any State Governor who wants to leave a legacy for posterity should build at least one medical laboratory in his state to serve the needs of his people. This is the way to go. The more we have these medical facilities the better for the citizens”.    The Disease Control expert singled out the Governors of Ekiti and Jigawa States, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Alhaji Abubakar Badaru respectively, for praise for building one medical laboratory each which will soon be commissioned to join in the war against the Covid-19  pandemic.   He therefore called on other Governors whose states are yet to have medical laboratory to see it as a challenge to establish one without further delay, adding that the benefits of establishing medical laboratories within each state are huge as they will come handy in the event of future outbreaks of diseases.    Meanwhile, the NCDC boss has predicted that there will be a job boom for medical laboratory technologists after the Covid-19 Pandemic because their will be alot of job opportunities for persons with prerequisite qualifications in medical laboratory.    Ihekweazu however lamented that lack of adequate trained manpower in the field had ensured that the NCDC is having some hiccups in the handling of the specimens for Covid-19 testing procedures.