By Tolu Ogunlesi
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) do not build, own or run COVID-19 testing labs. Apart from their National Reference Lab in Abuja, all other are owned/run independently by Federal & State Tertiary Hospitals, & private sector.
NCDC role is accreditation + technical support to qualified Labs.
NCDC is not the agency responsible for the collection of samples from patients, or the transportation of confirmed cases to Isolation/Treatment Centers.
NCDC also does not build or operate Isolation/Treatment Centers.
ALL OF THESE are the responsibilities of State Governments.
NCDC also does not make the results of Covid-19 tests available to patients. When a result emerges at any of the Labs, it is made available to NCDC and the State Epidemiologist. The task of informing a patient is the responsibility of the State Epidemiologist/Health Ministry.
NCDC’s role in the dissemination of Test Results is this: They receive the numbers from the Labs (25 and counting), validate the numbers STATE BY STATE, collate the figures nationally, and then make the national announcement.
I have heard the NCDC DG say that sometimes, if they’re unable to validate test data (i.e. confirmed cases) with a particular State, before nightly collation, they will leave that State out of the announcement until the next day. That’s how important the validation is. Painstaking.
The process is complicated somewhat by the fact that the Labs are carrying out tests for multiple States.
So you have to ensure that the State-level reporting is accurate. You have to be in constant touch with each State, to minimize the risk of mix-ups or other errors.
Ogunlesi is Special Assistant to President Buhari on Digital and New Media
