Some health practitioners have decried the effects of medical misdiagnosis, saying that a collaborative approach was needed to address the challenge as the causes could be multifactorial.
The experts expressed their views in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Lagos.
Speaking, Dr Caleb Yakubu, a Consultant Radiologist, said there were different factors that could cause medical misdiagnosis, which might be detrimental to a patient’s health.
Yakubu, also the Coordinator, One-Stop-Breast Clinic, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, said that misdiagnosis could occur due to faulty or low quality equipment.
He decried that the laboratory personnel, due to quest for profit, sometimes, compromised the quality of diagnosis by using fake and substandard equipment to carry out medical diagnosis, saying that such medical investigations might end up in misdiagnosis.
He explained that obsolete equipment could be a cause of misdiagnosis as many private and public health facilities could not to afford to replace them with modernized ones.
According to him, some of the laboratory personnel lacked the requisite competence and expertise to effectively carry out some categories of diagnoses.
“Sometimes, the diagnostic kits and chemicals may be fake and because of the desire for selfish-profiteering, medical personnel uses such equipment to carry out diagnosis on patients, which the outcome would be misdiagnosis/diagnostic error.
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“Similarly, most diagnostic kits are not only fake, but are of low standard, which predisposes medical personnel to wrong diagnosis and medical error.
“With fake diagnostic kits and chemicals; a pregnant woman may be diagnosed to be pregnancy negative,” he said.
Proffering solutions, Yakubu said there was need for stringent regulation on importation of diagnostic kits, to ensure that only certified and standardized ones would be allowed into the country.
According to him, there is also need for improved collaboration among medical professionals, capacity building and adequate training of the medical/laboratory personnel to ensure their competency.
He explained that collaboration would allow the health facilities to synergy and refer patients in areas they might not be able to effectively deliver, for a better outcome of the patient.
A Radiographer, Dr Oluwole Umor, identified limited investigation, which could occur as result of obsolete/substandard equipment, poor funding, lack of experienced personnel or quest for excessive profit, as other responsible factors for diagnostic error.
Umor said to address issue of misdiagnosis, there was urgent need for adequate funding of the health facilities and a functional National Health Insurance Scheme for the country.
He explained that with adequate funding, the problem of obsolete equipment, training of personnel among others, that contributed to misdiagnosis would be addressed.
According to him, many patients lacked the financial capability to pay for the needed medical investigations, hence, the need for an effective NHIS; to offset medical bills for the citizens.
A Laboratory Scientist, Mr Adeleke Olubo, said that the patients and their relatives have a role to play in averting misdiagnosis and ensuring accurate medical diagnosis.
Olubo, who said that accurate diagnosis was key to effective management of patients/diseases, advised that patients should always ensure they gave correct information about their health conditions.
He identified waste of resources, increased mortality, increased length of hospital stay, death, depression on patients/relatives and increased strain on workforce among others, as some of the implications of misdiagnosis.
He reiterated the need for collaboration among medical personnel, urging them to shun compromise of all sorts and always consider interest/health of the patients first.
NAN
