Govt cautions hospitals against incorrect diagnosis 

The Ministry of Health has raised concerns accusing some health laboratories of issuing incorrect diagnoses.

On Thursday, health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said that many labs “are using wrong diagnostic tests, thus misleading the public with inaccurate results.”

According to her, this usually leads to unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions which increases the risk of antimicrobial resistance.

“For now, my humble opinion is that the labs should desist from fleecing the population through using these tests until they are given guidance on what to do,” she remarked, noting that the ministry “plans to issue new guidelines to improve testing for these diseases in the country.”

Dr Aceng was speaking during the East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) peer to peer lab training closing ceremony in Kampala.

The training attracted 37 biomedical engineers from 14 countries including Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia Ethiopia, Uganda, Cameroon, Mali, and Nigeria among others.

Dr Aceng said accurate diagnosis is vital in treatment processes and response to public health emergencies.

“Uganda has faced more than 20 outbreaks in the last five years alone. Despite these challenges, we have managed consistently and accurately to identify the etiology of these outbreaks within 48 to 72 hours,” she observed.

“This remarkable achievement is a testament to the robust integrated quality assurance program that we have developed and implemented across our health system,” Dr Aceng added.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine urged “best services to reverse Africa’s big disease burden.”  

“The partners will come and support but the milestone to benefit the common people in Africa will depend on us,” Dr Atwine remarked.

She encouraged the beneficiaries of the training to use the knowledge they have acquired to transform the lab services in their countries.

“I remember at some time we would wait for a team from South Africa or other countries to come and do even the equipment calibration and that would cost us in terms of lives because if you don’t have a good turn around for results, it affects the quality of services,” Dr Atwine said.

Commissioner for laboratory services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Susan Nabadda, revealed plans to employ biomedical engineers in health facilities across the country.

“To get a good quality lab test, it is not all about testing, you need to look at that machine, is the machine is measuring the right thing, has it been maintained, serviced, calibrated to measure what it is supposed to do, and these are some of the roles that these biomedical engineers,” Dr Nabadda explained.