An indigenous oil and gas company, ND Western Limited, and its partners have built a medical diagnostic facility in Ogunu, Warri, Delta State.

The DeltaPlus Diagnostics medical facility was a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), ND Western, and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The ND Western/NPDC/IPPG Laboratory is a well-equipped facility designed to provide the most convenient and friendly COVID-19 and blood testing services to hospitals, Health Management Organizations (HMOs), and individuals in Delta and neighboring states.

Commenting on the project, the Chief Executive Officer of ND Western, Mr. Eberechukwu Oji, said DeltaPlus Diagnostics, through its collaborative partnership, engaged the federal government to proffer a practical solution to the COVID-19 pandemic by building a fully equipped molecular diagnostics laboratory in RA Shell Housing Estate Ogunu, Warri, Delta State.

“The diagnostics centre aims to provide reliable testing processes and other critical medical diagnostic services to the medical community, corporations, HMOs, and individuals in Delta State and beyond.

“The laboratory is equipped to support the medical research community in the South-South and the neighboring states as well as reduce the need to travel for long distances to access critical diagnostic services such as the facility provides,” Oji said.

He said services to be provided at the laboratory included PCR Test (COVID-19), Tumor markers/Cancer Screening Test; HIV Detection, HIV Viral Load, HBV Detection, HPV Detection, STD Panel, Respiratory Panel, Hepatitis B Test, and Tuberculosis Test.

Other services, according to him, are Gene Expression, miRNA Profiling, Copy Number Variation, Protein Thermal Shift, High-Resolution Melt, SNP Genotype, DNA Test, Oncology, Stem Cell Research, Diabetes Screening, Liver and Kidney Function test, Lipid profile, Fertility Testing, Full Blood Count, and Infection Screening (STI, UTI, and STDs).

To ensure its optimal functionality and efficient operations, the donors have appointed Katchey Laboratories Limited to manage the facility.

“COVID 19 pandemic is a challenge that requires special thinking. The peculiarities of this disease require a laboratory that can provide constant monitoring, to avoid the spread of the disease to unsuspecting colleagues.

“Therefore, it is imperative to have a diagnostics laboratory with the capacity to routinely carry out serologic and biologic molecular tests specifically for COVID-19,” Katchey Laboratories said in a statement.

The official inauguration of the facility has been scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.