Speech delivered by Dr. Anyanwu C. Okechukwu
The GMD – DCL Group.
Distinguished guests, colleagues, partners in healthcare, my dear wife, friends, gentlemen of the press, ladies and gentlemen,
It is with immense honour and gratitude that I stand before you today as we celebrate 20 years of DCL Laboratory Products Ltd – 20 years of innovation, resilience, growth, and commitment to advancing healthcare diagnostics in West Africa. This milestone is more than an anniversary; it is a reflection of purpose, impact, and the future ahead.
In-Vitro Diagnostics, or IVD, is the foundation of modern medicine. It provides the evidence for clinical decisions, guides treatment, supports disease surveillance, and shapes public health responses. Over 70% of medical decisions globally are informed by laboratory results, and without diagnosis, healthcare becomes uncertain, reactive, and costly.
In West Africa, where the burden of infectious diseases intersects with the rising prevalence of non-communicable conditions, accurate diagnostics are nothing short of life-saving. Early detection of malaria, HIV, Lassa fever, tuberculosis; precise monitoring of diabetes, cancers, cardiovascular disease; maternal and neonatal screening, epidemiological surveillance, pandemic preparedness – each of these begins with a test. IVD, therefore, is not just a laboratory activity; it is the backbone of modern medicine and public health.
This is the vision that led to the birth of DCL Laboratory Products Ltd two decades ago – to bridge the diagnostic divide and deliver total IVD solutions tailored to the needs of West Africa. Our goal was not only to supply instruments and consumables but to ensure their functionality, continuity, and impact on patient outcomes. And today, we stand proud of that journey.
Over the past 20 years, we have expanded our service footprint across Nigeria and the West African sub-region, supporting clinical chemistry, haematology, immunology, serology, molecular pathology, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, microbiology, parasitology, point-of-care diagnostics, and more. We have helped strengthen laboratory capacity, improve turnaround time, enhance disease detection, and support countless healthcare institutions to deliver evidence-based care.
Our growth has been people-driven, and I am pleased to share that our most recent personnel audit confirms that DCL Laboratory Products Ltd now has more than 250 skilled team members working across Nigeria and the West African sub-region. These are engineers, scientists, quality specialists, logistics experts and service professionals who ensure that every instrument supplied delivers consistent and dependable results.
Quality has always been our identity. We understand that behind every test result is a life, a diagnosis, a treatment decision – and therefore quality cannot be compromised. Our commitment to Quality Management Systems has been unwavering, and through years of consistent audits and process improvement, we achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification in 2017, a standard we continue to uphold with discipline and pride to date.
Today, I am proud to announce another advancement in our journey – the establishment of our new production plant, strategically developed to expand local manufacturing, guarantee supply security, and support our regional laboratory needs. This facility is already achieving excellence and has received multiple quality recognitions, including:
- ISO 9001:2015
- ISO 13485 (Medical Devices Quality Standard)
- NAFDAC Certification
- MLSCN Certification
- And several others are currently in the final stages of approval.
These certifications reflect not just compliance, but capability – capability to manufacture diagnostic products to global standards, to enhance local content, and to strengthen healthcare independence within Africa.
Our efforts became even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, when diagnostic readiness became the world’s strongest line of defence. Amid global supply chain disruptions, DCL stood firm – ensuring access to test kits, analysers, consumables and service support. We saw firsthand that a nation’s health security begins with diagnostics, and we are determined to make West Africa self-sufficient in this regard.
Yet, as we celebrate, we remain conscious of the challenges ahead – gaps in laboratory infrastructure, rural accessibility, cost barriers, and technology adoption. But with innovation, collaboration, and sustained investment, these gaps can and will be closed. Our mission continues: to make reliable diagnostics available, affordable, and accessible to every community in West Africa.
Our anniversary theme “celebrating impactful healthcare marketplace, heralding local IVD manufacturing”. But beyond that, it celebrates collaboration – with healthcare workers, with governments, with the private sectors, with our original equipment manufacturers, and with the communities we serve. None of our progress stands alone. It stands on partnerships rooted in trust, quality and shared purpose.
As we look to the future, we reaffirm our mission: to provide total IVD solutions that empower healthcare delivery in West Africa. We envision a region where no patient suffers because a test is unavailable. A region equipped for early detection, guided treatment, disease surveillance and personalised medicine. A region where diagnostics drive policy, preparedness and progress.
To every institution that has walked this path with us – we say thank you. To our staff, whose dedication fuels our growth – we celebrate you today. To our customers, who trust us with the lives behind every test – we honour you today. And to the healthcare ecosystem of West Africa – we pledge to continue standing with you, innovating for you, and delivering diagnostics that transform public health.
Ladies and gentlemen, today is not just an anniversary. It is a promise – a promise that the next 20 years will be even more impactful than the last.
Thank you, and God bless you.
