Laboratory professionals in Oyo State are calling for better wages to curb brain drain and tighter regulations on sachet water production to prevent public health crises.
Laboratory professionals gathered in Iseyin on Thursday to sound the alarm on two critical issues: the unsustainable pay scales for laboratory workers and the dangerous lack of oversight regarding sachet water quality.. During the 2026 World Laboratory Day, speakers highlighted that the current working conditions are pushing local experts to seek opportunities abroad, while consumers face rising risks from contaminated water sources.
The event, organized by Lab21 Services Limited and the Association of Analytical and Calibration Laboratory Directors, underscored a growing consensus that the backbone of public health is currently fracturing.. Practitioners from across the testing, research, and manufacturing sectors argued that without immediate structural adjustments, the quality of health diagnostics and environmental safety in Oke-Ogun will continue to decline.
Addressing the brain drain crisis
Taslim Owonikoko, CEO of BEREKOTRY Ltd, framed the current migration of laboratory personnel not as a mere workforce shift, but as a systemic failure to value essential services.. He pointed out that when the state fails to provide competitive remuneration, it essentially encourages the departure of the very people responsible for maintaining health and educational standards.. For many, the decision to leave is a direct response to the disparity between their earnings and the cost of living, creating a cycle where institutions remain perpetually understaffed.
The human impact of this migration is significant.. As seasoned professionals leave for greener pastures in Europe or North America, hospitals and testing facilities lose the institutional knowledge required to handle complex diagnostic tasks efficiently.. This vacuum is often filled by less experienced staff, which can lead to errors in clinical results or delays in processing critical samples.. If government officials hope to revitalize the healthcare sector, they must move beyond rhetoric and provide a salary structure that reflects the technical difficulty and societal necessity of laboratory work.
Tighter regulation of sachet water
Beyond labor issues, the assembly turned its focus to the health hazards posed by poorly regulated sachet water production.. Femi Oyediran argued that the current regulatory model is functionally obsolete, noting that producers often undergo testing only once every two years for renewal.. In the interim, there is virtually no systematic monitoring of the water reaching the public, a gap that experts believe is directly contributing to spikes in waterborne diseases and typhoid cases.
This regulatory inertia is a significant concern for residents who rely on sachet water as their primary source of hydration.. The assumption that a certificate issued years ago guarantees current safety is a dangerous fallacy.. Effective public health policy requires moving toward a model of continuous, random, and unannounced inspections rather than relying on biennial checkups.. By strengthening the partnership between regulatory bodies like NAFDAC and local health authorities, officials could drastically reduce the prevalence of preventable illnesses linked to contamination.
Ultimately, the goal is to integrate laboratory services into a more robust framework of community safety.. When diagnostic data is treated as a secondary concern, both health security and food safety suffer.. By investing in the workforce and modernizing how consumables are monitored, Misryoum reports that the government could safeguard the public against the preventable tragedies currently traced to the lack of oversight in the Oke-Ogun region.