September 26, 2023

No fewer than 90 Medical Laboratory Scientists drawn from various state-owned healthcare facilities blood banks and blood donation clinics have been trained by the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS) on blood safety compatibility testing.

The three-day hands-on workshop which was held between Tuesday 12th and Thursday 14th September, 2023 at the Lagos State Health Service Commission (LSHSC) training centre, Lagos Island is in tandem with the LSBTS mandate to identify training and research needs in the areas of safe blood transfusion service, and proffer ways for capacity building and development in line with acceptable standards and international best practices.

Executive Secretary of LSBTS, Dr. Bodunrin Osikomaiya, explained that the workshop which was held in collaboration with LSHSC is in line with the Lagos state Government’s plans to achieve international accreditation as well as increase the proficiency of the scientists in blood compatibility testing.

Others, according to her, are quality control of blood banking reagents, conversion of replacement donors to voluntary blood donors, eligibility screening of prospective blood donors, and appropriate blood collection in line with standard best practices.

Expressing gratitude to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi and the management of the LSHSC, for the support received by LSBTS to hold the workshop, Osikomaiya assured that the training will be held regularly.

She said, “This is not going to be a one-stop workshop, this training would be a regular activity that will be evaluated by the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service monitoring sub-committee and in External Quality Assessment (EQA) exercises”.

She implored beneficiaries of the workshop to cascade what they have learnt and share knowledge with their professional colleagues by replicating the structured Train-the-Trainer programme in their respective healthcare facilities.