By Annet Nakanwagi and Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The Ministry of Health Uganda has cleared the Uganda Police Forensic Laboratory at Naguru Police Headquarters to continue providing Forensic deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing services.
On July 10, government through the Minister of health Dr. Jane Ruth Acheng named private laboratory MBN and government Analytical Laboratory as the only accredited facilities permitted to offer DNA testing services in the country.
This was after concerns over increasing demand of DNA testing by different married couples in the country with victims blaming the test results on defective machines, incompetence, errors by specialists and inadvertent samples.
While addressing the media, the minister said the named laboratories had quality control and assurance, Highly qualified personnel and the right infrastructures and technological equipment for performance of DNA relationship tests.
The approval of the two laboratories however created a gap in criminal justice since the Police forensic laboratory at Naguru was among the facilities not gazzatted to carry out DNA testing yet essential in crime investigations.
During the media engagement on Monday (July 24), police spokesperson SCP Fred Enanga revealed that the ministry of health has cleared and added the Uganda Police Force forensic laboratory to their database of gazzatted and certified facilities for DNA testing relationship.
“We are happy to inform the public that the Ministry of Health also approved the UPF forensic laboratory Naguru to continue providing forensic DNA testing services as per its mandate,” Enanga said
According to him, the clearance will enhance criminal justice system accuracy required to linking suspects of crime.
“By comparison, forensic DNA is more scientifically accurate and more difficult to dispute in account of eye witnesses,” Enanga said
He added that the laboratory which is equipped with the state of art technology and facilities will enable the police forensic scientists to perform a broad range of DNA related services and evidential material in support of investigations by police such as identification of dead bodies, DNA paternity and maternity sibling, kinship testing, criminal investing, among other DNA profiling.
Enanga further expressed police commitment to provide high quality forensic services that are accurate, reliable and globally accepted.
