THERE is a saying that a problem known is half-solved. As in other areas of life, so also in health matters. The issue of the indispensability of precision testing in healthcare is an issue that is at the heart of winning the war against diseases and sicknesses. It is easy to blame the economic situation, but how many Nigerians had that habit of going for a test or diagnosis when symptoms manifest, or when they ‘feel somehow’ even in those days the economy wasn’t this bad? Many watchers of the health sector (professional and non-professionals alike) have stressed the need for more commitment to due diligence when it comes to tests to discover the cause(s) of ailments; the need to upgrade equipment for a better level of precision testing; and the need for all those who administer drugs to patients (pharmacists, chemists, over-the-counter drug sellers, nurses)to insist on clearer and better background information of an ailment before dishing out drugs…all pointing to the need to go the extra mile in the interest of disease detection and treatment. The concerns raised allude to or throw up some issues.
First, most Nigerians don’t have regard for finding the cause(s) of their health challenges when symptoms begin to manifest. They simply believe it is ‘disease abc’ or ‘sickness xyz’ from past experience (forgetting that many different ailments can show similar symptoms) or from what they hear from other people who don’t know much about ailments. Second, there is need, across board, to shun all forms of lethargy, levity, laxity, shoddiness, slothfulness, even gross carelessness when it comes to accurate testing and diagnosis of ailments. No matter the reasons why they happen, they should be thrown overboard in the interest of better detection and treatment of diseases. The ultimate aim here is that misdiagnosis and mistreatment should be avoided like the plague. Third, all the loose ends of the law should be tightened up, and the regulatory authorities should be supported in all possible ways to discharge their responsibilities without fear or favour because human lives are at stake.
Fourth, that drug administration should be more carefully done and those involved in it should not be dissuaded from insisting on having a test result, and even when the test result is given, should make extra efforts aimed at fully ascertaining its correctness, validity or genuineness.
Irrespective of what the situation is now, people at different levels of the healthcare provision system (including the general public) should not jump to conclusions when symptoms are presenting —knowing exactly the cause(s) is imperative. Proper testing and diagnosis, and particularly insisting on evidence of having done test (and validating the result) is key to a successful treatment of ailments, whichever type. Everybody should insist on it —the sick, the lab person, doctor, nurse, pharmacist, chemist, over-the-counter drug dealer, the regulatory authorities, immediate family members and relations of the sick, and every other person. Everybody should do their part to make sure the cause is known before the case. It should not be the other way round. Don’t start fighting an ailment when you have not fully (or substantially) determined what caused it. The consequences should be a no-brainer, whether we want to acknowledge them or not.
Enter precision-testing. The cause should be fully and precisely known before the case, otherwise, there could be misdiagnosis and mistreatment with a lot of costly consequences. Misdiagnosis means, first and foremost, that money and time have been wasted. Mistreatment means that the ailment has not been effectively checked; it continues its rampage, can lead to complications, and then lead to more loss of resources and eventual death, exacting a huge socioeconomic toll. We shudder when we hear what misdiagnosis and mistreatment have caused, yet there are people who still carry on with their speculative proclivities when it comes to ailments instead of finding precisely the cause(s) first. Machines are central to the issue of precision testing. So, as important as the issue of the quality of the medical person and associated personnel is the issue of the caliber of diagnostic equipment. Precision testing and diagnosis have been made possible and easy, thanks to versatile machines like VITEK 2 and BACT ALERT. VITEK 2, for instance, is a state-of-the-art universal pathogen detector. It is for detection and sensitivity. It clearly identifies and classifies any type of pathogen, including the ones never seen or heard of in a particular geographical area, with pinpoint precision, and 99.9 percent (to be modest) accuracy! If such machines are widely deployed, the issue of misdiagnosis will be a rare occurrence.
Nigeria needs to upgrade, health-wise. In that tourney, precision-testing occupies a pride of place. People need to be re-sensitised to the fact that ailments need to be properly diagnosed so that we don’t beat about the bush when it comes to treatment. Everybody knows that you count one before two, that a baby crawls before he walks. When it comes to an all-important issue like health, why do people want to reverse a logical process? It is even true that some people don’t want to hear the cause(s) of their ailments because they get some psychological relief from not knowing! They have pictured what their situation will look like and what ‘huge’ amount of money they will need to get a cure, and so they want to be told anything that will calm them down! Greedy and unscrupulous people in the health system then capitalize on this! It is a funny situation. The sick do not sometimes realize that sometimes, an ordinary exercise and diet regimen is what may be needed to take care of a certain ailment! But they have to know precisely the cause(s) first. Precision testing will point the way.
- Madu is an Abuja-based medical laboratory scientist
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