The Lagos government in anticipation of an increase in demand for COVID-19 test in the state has given seven private laboratories approval to begin polymerase chain reaction testing for the virus.
The laboratories are Total Medical Services, Synlab, 54 Gene, Medbury Medical Services, Biologix Medical Services, 02 Medical Services, and Clina Lancent Laboratories.
The Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, said during the signing of a memorandum of understanding, that bringing private laboratories onboard was a strategy to meet the growing demand for COVID-19 test and ensure larger number of persons have access to the test.
“We recognise the need to expand our testing capacity, especially to the local government areas that are most affected by the community transmission of virus and, as Lagos State continuously manages the public crises caused by COVID-19, it simultaneously attempts to open up various aspects of its economy. Both efforts make it imperative that COVID-19 tests are widely available to members of the public.
“However, the State’s COVID-19 response will remain a centrally managed emergency response by the State Government and the need to test will be surveillance driven and based on a clear case definition, Prof Abayomi said.
The Commissioner said that the State expects demand for COVID-19 from different industries to exceed 4,000 per day.
“We expect demand for tests from the following industries: individuals in the informal sector, banking and finance, manufacturing, food and beverages, schools, the aviation industry, fast-moving consumer goods and hospitality amongst others.
“Based on the projected cumulative demand from the above, we believe that demand for COVID-19 tests could exceed 4,000 per day in the next six months,” Prof Akin said.
He said the Lagos State Bio-Bank would coordinate the activities of private laboratories involved in the COVID-19 testing network.
The Director of the Lagos State Bio-Bank, Dr Bamidele Mutiu, said the accreditation exercise “involved validating the outputs of the samples they tested and following the successful validation of the private laboratories, the State proceeded to build their capacity in Infection Prevention and Control as well as the management of a biosafety lab.”
“The idea is to decentralize testing, while maintaining the integrity and regulation of sample collection, testing and result validation,” Dr Mutiu said
As of June 30, Lagos has 10,310 confirmed cases and about 8,590 active cases. While 1,593 persons have been discharged, 127 people have died.
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