Nigeria Needs Urgent Diagnostics Policy to Improve Rural Healthcare – Cerba-Lancet CEO

Nigeria must urgently implement policies that expand access to quality diagnostic services in rural communities if it is to bridge healthcare inequalities and improve patient outcomes, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Cerba-Lancet Laboratories Nigeria, Dr. Olayemi Dawodu, has said.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos, Dawodu called for the rapid development and implementation of policies that would enable internationally accredited diagnostic laboratories to extend services to underserved communities across the country.

She stressed that access to accurate and timely diagnostic services should not be determined by where Nigerians live, noting that pathology services must become available to all citizens, including those in remote areas.

According to her, although many rural health facilities may not have sophisticated laboratory equipment, they can still deliver reliable test results using validated and calibrated diagnostic technologies.

Dawodu identified emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and telepathology as critical tools for expanding specialist diagnostic services to hard-to-reach communities.

She explained that telepathology enables healthcare workers in rural areas to collect and prepare patient samples before transmitting scanned slides electronically to specialist pathologists in urban centres for diagnosis, eliminating the need for patients to undertake long and costly journeys.

“Technology can significantly improve access to quality diagnostics, but it must be supported by deliberate policies and investments,” she said.

The Cerba-Lancet chief executive noted that technology alone would not solve Nigeria’s diagnostic challenges, stressing that successful implementation would require close collaboration among health authorities, telecommunications regulators, network providers, educational institutions and other stakeholders to build the necessary infrastructure.

She said innovations in diagnostic medicine have the potential to transform healthcare delivery over the next decade if government and industry work together to move beyond pilot programmes and scale proven solutions nationwide.

Dawodu also advocated regular policy dialogues, stakeholder roundtables and think tanks to accelerate the adoption of innovative diagnostic technologies across Nigeria’s healthcare system.

She noted that growing discussions around telemedicine demonstrate increasing recognition of digital healthcare as a viable solution to the country’s healthcare access challenges.

Highlighting the impact of the ongoing brain drain in the health sector, Dawodu described the shortage of healthcare professionals as one of the biggest obstacles to quality healthcare delivery, adding that digital technologies have become indispensable in bridging workforce gaps.

She urged the Federal Government to make telemedicine, including telepathology, a key component of national healthcare policy, revealing that some organisations are already partnering with state and local governments to deploy solar-powered, multilingual telemedicine kiosks capable of operating in underserved communities without requiring internet data.

According to her, scaling such innovations through supportive government policies could significantly improve access to quality healthcare and diagnostics for millions of Nigerians living in rural areas.