My achievements as AMLSN President – Alh. Toyosi Raheem

Alhaji Raheem

After steering the affairs of Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, as president for nearly three years, Alhaji Toyosi Raheem, says he is convinced he has delivered on his campaign promises.

In an interview with Nigeria Health Online in Abuja at the weekend, Raheem said his tenure had among others began the erection of a befitting headquarters for the association in Abuja.

His interview came on the sideline of his briefing newsmen of Monkey pox outbreak in the country. He specifically condemned “failure of government to invest in laboratories in public hospitals in the country and make them of international standard,” but rather choosing to depend on laboratories outside the country for results of blood samples and results of related tests.

Raheem said his leadership achieved making Level 10 an entry point for medical laboratory scientists in all health facilities where they are employed in the country. He said his government ensured the rights of medical lab scientists in work place are respected while their professional autonomy was sacrosanct.

He urged his successor to continue with the projects that would be handed over by his administration in few weeks when his tenure will end.

AMLSN is set to elect new leaders that would steer its affairs for the next three years in Kaduna in the second week of November this year.

Raheem also said the association is poised to making its dream National Post-Graduate College of Medical Laboratory a reality and would continue to work towards its realization.

“In 2014 when I was offering myself to serve as the president of this association, it was a serious contest. Three of us contested and to God be the glory, I emerged victorious. I did not take that for granted, I tried to look at my manifestoes. The first meeting, we put our excos together and presented what we called the blueprint of this executive. And, that has been our working document for about three years now.

“What have we significantly achieved? First of all, when I came on board, part of the manifestoes was that the enhanced entry point for medical laboratory scientists in this country will be actualized. And, to God be the glory, seven months after I assumed office as the president, the circular giving us the entry point was given to us by government. What that means is that before then, medical lab scientists were starting their career in public service on grade nine, and we felt that they should not start on grade nine. They should start on grade level 10 as given to pharmacists, physiotherapists and others in our category.

“So, to God be the glory, that circular is now operational. There is no lab scientist anywhere in this country that will be placed on grade level below level 10. It could be CONHESS nine, which is equivalent of grade level 10. That is one very remarkable achievement.

“Second achievement was the need to maintain visibility and engagement of the press. That we’ve been doing since we took over. We thought we need to engage the press and not to use the press. And, we’ve maintained that consistence. We’ve maintained visibility. Not only in the media, we’ve increased our advocacy visits to various places. That is why today, these advocacy visits have attracted goodwill to us as a profession.

“One other good achievement that we have made as outgoing executives is the building of befitting headquarters for the association. Part of the manifestoes I gave in Akure in 2014 while campaigning was that before I leave office, there would be a permanent national headquarters of this association. To God be the glory, that has been achieved. I purposely made this meeting to hold here so that people will know this place is not good for us as an association.

“It takes a time for an edifice to be in place. To God be the glory. That edifice is not yet completed, it is still ongoing. We are still working on it. It is not too far from our Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria. It is in a very strategic place, in Garki Area in Durumi.”

He went on: “It is a design that is going to accommodate four storey in which each floor will be dedicated to specific activity. And, we’ve started. We’ve gone beyond the level where it was when we bought it last year. We are now at the lintel level of the first floor. We wish that whoever takes over from me as president will also be able to mobilize the executive to continue the work. An edifice like I said is not completed within a tenure.

“The other one is that we’ve been able to ensure that our professional autonomy was not eroded or tampered with; we have sustained that. We also have also ensured that the rights of our members in their workplace are not tampered with.”