Health Laboratories In Ghana
Health laboratories are facilities where medical investigations are carried out to deduce information on a patient to assist proper diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of the patient’s condition.
They also provide suggestions on disease prevention and long-term investments for a patient’s health care. Aside clinically providing pathological and diagnostic services, health laboratories also carry out general tests like pregnancy tests, malaria test and many others using bodily fluids, blood, tissues and stool.
Health laboratories come in different sizes depending on the location and the purposes they serve. They can be small and sometimes peripheral to a main health care providing facility or specific, large and intensive. In major health providing facilities like hospitals and nursing homes, laboratory services are usually provided by the department responsible for carrying out tests and such medical checks usually called ‘Department of Pathology and Medical Laboratory’ however, there are private facilities established to specifically provide pathological and medical diagnostic services. These laboratories and usually large and have equipment and staff for intense practice in anatomic pathological and medical laboratory.
Health laboratories in Ghana
Following research in 2011 by the Ghana Health Service for the World Health Organization, carried out in hospitals and private laboratories, it was deduced that Ghanaian health laboratories provide adequate and timely results (Some even within two hours). Although some hospital laboratories did not conduct some major tests like the cerebrospinal fluid microscopy and seemed to be a general shortage of professional staff, Ghana could boast of over one hundred health laboratories working towards providing quality results for use by doctors and nurses during treatment.
Today, as the country is constantly improving, adequate health care for all is one of the priorities of Ghana Health Services; as such, assessment is always carried out to provide information on the available health laboratories and those recommended by the Ghana Health Service.
In the past year, with the world of medical science combating the COVID ’19 pandemic, it because more pressing for approved health laboratories to be known, and out of the over one hundred health laboratories in the country, there are only a handful that have been verified and approved by Ghana Health Service. These laboratories were verified based on international standard requirements and standards of the Ghana Health Service.
The list of highly recommended verified and approved health laboratories in major capital cities in the various regions in Ghana is provided below.
In Accra
- McSarpong Medical Equipment & Supplies
- Medplus Lab & Scan
- Synlab Ghana
- Metropolis Healthcare Ghana Limited
- MDS-Lancet Laboratories Ghana Ltd.
- Shape Medical Diagnostic Centre
- Home DNA Test Ghana
- DCL Laboratory Products Ltd, Ghana
- National Public Health Reference Laboratory
- Nyaho Diagnostic Laboratory
- Akai House Laboratory
- Leding Medical Laboratory
In Kumasi
- The DNA Test Laboratory
- Synlab Ghana
- MMA Laboratory
- St Anne’s Clinic
- Biocrown Medical Diagnostic Laboratories Ltd.
- Incas Diagnostic Services Ltd.
In Tamale
In Takoradi
- Mediwest Laboratory Services
- Synlab Ghana.
- Advanced Medical Lab. Services
- Base Pathological Laboratory
- El-Shaddai Medical & Laboratory
- Kevin Medical Laboratory
In Cape Coast
In Tema
- B&D Medical Laboratories Limited
- Synlab Ghana
- MDS Lancet Laboratories, Tema
- Antwi-Boasiako Medical Laboratories Ltd.
- Medlab Ghana Ltd.
Each one of these verified and approved health laboratories in Ghana and can be easily found online with details as to their scope of practice and direction to their location if a visit is required. Impressively, some of the laboratories like and Synlab formerly MedLab and MDS-Lancet Laboratory are established in almost all the regions in Ghana and are said to come in highly recommended. And yet, there are many other laboratories in varying sizes and relatively lower charges that most patients can visit conveniently.
It is interesting to note that there are quite a good number of health laboratories in the country and much more springing up and more young people are encouraged to pursue careers in Laboratory Science and Technology. At least Diploma degree in Medical Laboratory Technology can prove an entry point to any person seeking to be a Laboratory Technician earns a starting salary of GH1,800 monthly.
References:
https://www.exilab.com
