Ahwiam(G/A), Aug 13, - The seventh annual medical laboratory week of students of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital was launched at Ahwiam, near Old Ningo in the Dangme West District of the Greater Accra region, today. During the week which is under the theme ''post-independence medical laboratory practice and national development'', the students will screen the inhabitants free of charge. Launching the programme, the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Professor Dr Pat A.K. Addy, noted that the choice of Ahwiam as the venue for the activities would help the Ministry of Health unearth some of the exotic diseases and other related health problems afflicting the rural people. Pro Addy said medical laboratory technology had brought about a revolutionary improvement in human health security and enhanced the average life span of man in a growing number of countries world-wide. ''The expanding freedom of the world's societies from fatal infections depends on the continued and informed development of complex counter measures engendered by correct laboratory diagnosis and treatment of disease,'' he stressed. The deputy minister advised the students to be particular with the rural communities who form the bulk of the population and who are the most deprived and vulnerable in the society. These people, Pro Addy observed, need to be brought into the mainstream of national development efforts to ensure the growth and development of the entire nation.