Lagos approves seven private labs for COVID-19 testing

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, on Friday, said the state government had authorised the use of seven private laboratories as COVID-19 testing centres.

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Abayomi, at a briefing in Alausa, said the decision was taken to ramp up COVID-19 testing in the state, adding that seven local government areas including Eti-Osa, Alimosho, Kosofe, Ikeja, Oshodi, Surulere and Lagos Mainland had the highest number of infections in the state.

He said, “As Lagos continuously attempts to open up various aspects of its economy, it is imperative that COVID-19 tests are widely available to members of the public. In a bid to ramp up its testing capacity, Lagos State Government has taken a strategic decision to include private laboratories in the testing of Covid-19.

“The testing facilities as we’ve established at the moment, are the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, the Lagos State Biobank, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, and the Central Public Health Laboratory in Yaba.

“We’ve also included some private facilities. They are Total Medical Services, SynLab, 54 Gene, Medbury Medical Services, Biologix Medical Services, O2 Medical Services, and Clina Lancert Laboratories. They’ve all passed their validations, they have been accredited. We are in the middle of the outbreak and, therefore, we still expect to see a lot more cases in the next few months.”

The commissioner added that Eti Osa Local Government Area continues to have the highest number of reported cases of COVID-19 in the state with 1,515 cases, followed by Alimosho with 663 cases and Kosofe with 659 cases.