AKMLSO officials during a press conference in Eldoret on October 11, 2017. [Photo: Joe Khisa]The Association of Kenya Medical Laboratory Scientific Officers (AKMLSO) has raised concerns following recent regular outbreak of cholera in several parts of the country.Association's National Executive Chairman Michael Abala Wanga says there is need for thorough investigations to be done to find out the cause of the outbreaks.Addressing the press at the Boma inn in Eldoret town on Wednesday, Wanga also called for enhancing of the country's disease surveillance systems.This, he noted, can be achieved by the devolved units and the national government employing more medical laboratory officers.He noted that currently there is a shortage of Medical Laboratory officers in the country."There are about 10,000 trained Medical Laboratory officers across the country but only few of those are employed by the government. We need more of them to be employed for the country to be able to effectively prevent disease outbreaks," said Mr. Wanga."We need to strengthen our surveillance systems and disease diagnosing system as this will enable us be able to identify any health risks and prevent disease outbreaks in future," he added.Similar sentiments were shared by the association's deputy Safari Kiith who called for deployment of field laboratory officers to help test waters and food handlers in areas affected by by cholera outbreak."Medical laboratories need to be involved in dealing with diseases outbreaks," he said.

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