Lagos signs blood screening deal, targets safer transfusions

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The Lagos State Government has entered a five-year concession agreement to standardise blood screening across public hospitals, following concerns over uneven screening capacity, inconsistent equipment, discordant test results and weak traceability within the state’s blood transfusion system.

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The agreement, signed last week, between the state government, the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service and approved private concessionaires, is designed to establish a uniform, technology-driven system for screening and certifying blood before it is used for transfusion.

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Under the arrangement, Roche Products Limited will provide fully automated blood screening systems through a reagent rental model, while the state government will retain regulatory oversight throughout the five-year concession.

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The agreement was formally executed by representatives of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service and the approved concessionaires, in the presence of government officials, development partners and industry stakeholders.

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The screening programme is expected to strengthen the detection of transfusion-transmissible infections, including HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and syphilis, while improving quality assurance, accountability and traceability across public health facilities.

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The Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, described blood as a “liquid organ” and said its use in medical care required a level of oversight comparable to other critical interventions because errors in screening could directly affect patients’ survival.

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“Blood is a liquid organ, and when we transfuse blood into another human being, we have to be extremely careful,” Abayomi said at the signing ceremony held at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Alausa-Ikeja.

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He said the government could not leave the safety of blood entirely to market forces because of the potentially fatal consequences of contaminated or improperly screened blood.

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Abayomi said the concession was intended to ensure that every unit of blood collected and used within the Lagos health system underwent screening according to internationally accepted standards.

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“We are working towards two goals simultaneously: meeting the growing demand for blood and ensuring that every unit carrying the Lagos State logo is safe.

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“When people see that certification, they must have complete confidence that the blood has passed through the highest professional screening standards,” he said.

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The commissioner said advances in diagnostic technology had also made it possible to narrow the “window period” during which an infection may not yet be detectable by conventional testing, thereby reducing the risk of transmitting infections through transfusion.

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He urged healthy residents to donate blood voluntarily and regularly, noting that a dependable blood supply was as important as the technology used to screen it.

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According to him, voluntary donations could provide lifesaving blood for pregnant women and mothers, newborns, accident victims and patients requiring emergency surgery or other urgent medical intervention.

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The government, he said, was also working towards positioning Lagos as a regional centre for safe blood supply capable of supporting neighbouring states.

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The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Dayo Lajide, described the concession as a reform of the state’s blood screening system rather than simply a procurement arrangement.

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She said the objective was to ensure that blood used across the state’s health system was screened with reliable technology under standardised procedures and through processes that could be traced and audited.

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Lajide said the agreement followed an extensive procurement process involving technical, financial and legal assessments.

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The resulting contract, she said, contained provisions covering service delivery, equipment harmonisation, quality assurance, revenue management, performance monitoring and accountability.

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She said the initiative aligned with the health and environment pillar of the state’s THEMES+ Development Agenda and its broader objective of developing a resilient health system capable of meeting the needs of a growing population.

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But Lajide cautioned that the signing itself should not be mistaken for the completion of the reform.

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“The true success of this agreement will be measured by the quality, reliability and safety of services delivered to the people of Lagos State,” she said.

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The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service, Dr Bodunrin Osikomaiya, provided the clearest account of the problems the new concession was intended to address.

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She said the previous concession agreement expired in June 2023, creating the need for a new framework that would respond to operational weaknesses that had become apparent over the years.

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Among the problems identified were disparities in screening capacity between facilities, the use of different equipment, inconsistent or discordant test results, inadequate traceability and weaknesses in quality assurance.

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Osikomaiya said the new agreement was consequently designed to provide a more structured and sustainable system with clearly defined responsibilities and performance requirements.

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She said the new contract had grown from a 15-page agreement under the previous arrangement to a 97-page performance-based framework containing stronger legal, financial and operational safeguards.

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“The previous concession agreement expired in June 2023, and this made it necessary for us to develop a more structured, transparent and sustainable framework,” Osikomaiya said.

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She explained that the procurement process for the new concession commenced in November 2024, when expressions of interest were publicly advertised.

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Nine prospective bidders initially expressed interest, she said, before technical and other stages of evaluation reduced the field to five successful concessionaires.

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Under the new arrangement, Roche Products Limited will supply fully automated screening systems that comply with World Health Organisation requirements through a reagent rental model.

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The arrangement is expected to give the state access to modern screening technology without transferring its regulatory responsibilities to the private sector.

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Osikomaiya said the Lagos State Government would continue to oversee the programme throughout the five years to ensure compliance with approved standards, transparency and accountability.

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The involvement of Roche also provides a technical support structure for the programme.

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The General Manager of Roche Products Limited, Roberto Taboada, said the company’s operations in Nigeria, including its engineering personnel, warehousing and logistics infrastructure, would support continuous maintenance of the equipment and supply of reagents.

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He pledged the company’s commitment to ensuring that technical disruptions did not undermine the blood screening system.

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“We are committed to the success of this programme,” Taboada said, adding that Roche’s local presence would enable it to provide equipment maintenance, reagent supply and technical support.

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For the concessionaires, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Banner Diagnostics, Adetunji Kolawole-Moradeyo, commended Lagos for maintaining a blood screening programme that began more than two decades ago.

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He said the screening centres had undergone significant transformation over the years but identified the availability of adequate operational space as an immediate challenge as more advanced diagnostic equipment is deployed under the new concession.

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The new agreement comes at a time when the state is seeking to strengthen not only the safety of blood but also the reliability of the system through which it is collected, screened, certified and distributed.

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The distinction is significant because safe transfusion depends on more than the availability of testing equipment. It also requires standardised procedures, reliable reagents, trained personnel, quality control, traceability and systems capable of identifying and responding to errors.

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That was reflected in the concerns identified by the Blood Transfusion Service during its review of the previous arrangement.

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The state’s decision to retain regulatory oversight while bringing private-sector concessionaires and an international diagnostics company into the screening process is therefore intended to combine public accountability with private-sector technology and operational capacity.

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The Director of Healthcare Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr Olajumoke Oyenuga, said the conclusion of the agreement followed a lengthy reform process involving government officials, health professionals and private-sector partners.

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She expressed confidence that the new framework would improve the safety, accountability and sustainability of blood screening services across Lagos over the five years.

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