There are growing concerns over conflicting medical test results from private and public medical laboratories in the country.
Findings reveal that this has left in its wake, deaths and negative implications on the treatment and management of patients, as well as their general wellbeing.
Dr. Ifeanyi Casmir, a medical laboratory scientist, said Nigeria was bedeviled with misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.
Misdiagnosis is when a diagnosis has been made but is incorrect, while missed diagnosis is a situation where no diagnosis is made at all but the patient is ailing, Dr. Casmir explained.
He said, “For example, if you have acute abdomen and they tell you there is nothing wrong with you, it is missed diagnosis. And if you are told you have pelvic inflammatory disease, then it is misdiagnosis, or wrong diagnosis if eventually what you actually have is ovarian cyst or cancer of the ovary.”
Casmir, who is also the immediate past publicity secretary of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), said the cardinal determinants of medical results validity were precision, accuracy, and reproducibility of the result.
