Tom Coleman, Exhibition Director, Medic West Africa, has said the forthcoming Medic West Africa Exhibition and Conference, scheduled to hold from September 26 to 28, 2023 at Landmark Centre in Lagos is aimed at transforming the healthcare infrastructure in the sub region.
He said: “With its rapidly growing population, West and Central Africa has an ever-increasing demand for quality healthcare services. Whilst governments have made significant investments to improve healthcare infrastructure and expand access to medical facilities, Medic West Africa is instrumental in driving the progression of the healthcare industry by creating conducive environment for businesses and stakeholders to connect, discourse, and explore the latest healthcare advancements in healthcare technology and solutions.”
He also noted that the conference which coincides with the 10th anniversary of Medic West Africa, will afford the group the opportunity to position itself as a “one-stop event where innovation, collaboration, and growth converge to shape the future of the laboratory industry in West Africa.”
He said: “We are very excited about the launch of Medlab West Africa, alongside the 2023 Medic West Africa event. After 20 years of being a successful global event brand, Medlab will be the one-stop event where innovation, collaboration, and growth converge to shape the future of the laboratory industry in West Africa. It will foster connections within the medical laboratory community, making it the region’s largest multi-disciplinary laboratory congress and exhibition.”
The conference organised by leading global exhibitions organiser, Informa Markets, will feature sessions to be presented by notable organisations such as the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners, and the Society for Quality in Health Care in Nigeria.
Highlights of the conference will include the launch of laboratory conference tracks focusing on laboratory management, clinical microbiology, immunology, and molecular diagnostics. The sessions will feature expert voices in the industry as facilitators, including Donald Ofili, Director and Deputy Registrar of Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) Accreditation Service; Akyala Ishaku, Director of Global Health and Infectious Diseases Centre, Nasarawa State University; and Abdul Karim Sesay, Head of the Genomics Strategic Platform at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The sessions will also be eligible for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation by MLSCN.
Speaking on the expectations from the conference, Tosan Erhabor, Registrar and CEO, of MLSCN, said: “As a regulator, the MLSCN is committed to strengthening health laboratory systems and professional practice for quality services. In this regard, we have developed the quality tripod to drive our processes for excellent service delivery to the stakeholders. We see this partnership with Medic West Africa to launch Medlab as a veritable platform to promote dialogue among the stakeholders in furtherance of our mandate to bequeath a culture of accurate and reliable medical laboratory test results to the entire citizenry. We look forward to enriching the conference’s scientific programme by sharing our expertise in medical laboratory science and invaluable insights with the vast network of professionals who will be in attendance.”
The 2023 Medic West Africa exhibition will feature over150 companies with over 4,500 healthcare professionals from about 32 countries in attendance.
It is also expected that state-of-the-art medical equipment and devices, disposables and consumer goods, IT systems and solutions, and healthcare infrastructure and assets, among others will be exhibited at the three-day event
This year’s event is expected to be an improvement over the 2022 edition that hosted 3,260 healthcare professionals from 84 countries and facilitated US $30 million in business deals.
The event supported by indigenous trade associations, government agencies, and industry partners such as Abbott, Randox, Erba Manheim, Qiagen, among others is expected to unlock the potential of West Africa’s thriving healthcare and laboratory sector.