Following the transfer of a state-of-the-art R15 million diagnostic mobile laboratory from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in Saarland, Germany, to the Western Cape government at the end of last year, the laboratory has been operating as an extension of Caledon Hospital for the past four months. The mobile laboratory was officially handed over to the Western Cape at a ceremony in March this year.
Faced with the challenge on how to make optimal use of the state-of-the-art equipment, the Department of Health was advised by National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) to station the mobile laboratory as an extension of Caledon Hospital to provide laboratory services to the people of the Overberg.
Until the deployment of the mobile laboratory to Caledon, blood and sputum specimens from this region were couriered to Green Point resulting in slow turn-around times. With the mobile laboratory now stationed in Caledon, patients receive their results for the majority of tests requested within a one to 12 hour period, as opposed to the previous waiting time of one to three days.
By having a laboratory in the Overberg area, the waiting times for couriers and traveling times decreased significantly due to the shorter distance to the reference laboratory. In the past four months the mobile laboratory has processed more than 2900 specimens, and is expected to process even more as the network of specimen couriers gain momentum.
Specimens are sent to the mobile laboratory from health facilities in Caledon, Greyton, Genadendal, Hermanus, Stanford, Gansbaai, Hawston and Botriver. The plan is to add Bredasdorp, Swellendam and Theewaterskloof in the near future.
NHLS allocated a medical technologist, Byron Strachan, and technician, Simthembile Khulela, towards this project. They relocated from Cape Town to Caledon and are on standby after hours and over weekends for emergency specimen testing.
Faced with the challenge on how to make optimal use of the state-of-the-art equipment, the Department of Health was advised by National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) to station the mobile laboratory as an extension of Caledon Hospital to provide laboratory services to the people of the Overberg.
Until the deployment of the mobile laboratory to Caledon, blood and sputum specimens from this region were couriered to Green Point resulting in slow turn-around times. With the mobile laboratory now stationed in Caledon, patients receive their results for the majority of tests requested within a one to 12 hour period, as opposed to the previous waiting time of one to three days.
By having a laboratory in the Overberg area, the waiting times for couriers and traveling times decreased significantly due to the shorter distance to the reference laboratory. In the past four months the mobile laboratory has processed more than 2900 specimens, and is expected to process even more as the network of specimen couriers gain momentum.
Specimens are sent to the mobile laboratory from health facilities in Caledon, Greyton, Genadendal, Hermanus, Stanford, Gansbaai, Hawston and Botriver. The plan is to add Bredasdorp, Swellendam and Theewaterskloof in the near future.
NHLS allocated a medical technologist, Byron Strachan, and technician, Simthembile Khulela, towards this project. They relocated from Cape Town to Caledon and are on standby after hours and over weekends for emergency specimen testing.
On her recent visit to Germany, Premier Helen Zille visited the Fraunhofer Society in Munich. During these discussions Premier Zille expressed her intention for closer cooperation between the Institute and universities in the Western Cape regarding research and development projects, particularly in the field of renewable energy. In addition, it is envisaged that representatives from the Institute will form part of the German delegation that will participate in the German-South Africa Year of Science in 2012/13.
Head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Bio-Medical Engineering, Prof Guenther Fuhr, expressed his excitement about the successful deployment of Fraunhofer technology for the important fight against HIV and TB. "The commissioning of the mobile laboratory was a great collaboration between Western Cape Government Health and the Fraunhofer Institute.
I am satisfied that the Fraunhofer team takes care of the service and maintenance work during the mobile laboratory's operational period in Caledon. "Designed in Germany's Saarland, the mobile laboratory has shown the robustness for an uninterrupted operation from the start.
Over the past year, the project has been a learning curve for all partners involved, and will have a huge impact on the future development of mobile laboratories," said Prof Fuhr.
"The people from Western Cape Government, NHLS and the University of Stellenbosch had shown flexibility and commitment for the task and their reward is the successful operation of the mobile laboratory."
NHLS CEO, Mr Sagie Pillay, added, "The South African health sector is humbled by the transfer of the mobile laboratory from the Fraunhofer Institute. The rural communities of the Overberg region are really the ones who have benefitted from this initiative as medical facilities can now diagnose faster which improves effective treatment to these patients.
The community of Caledon specifically can now access a variety of pathology tests without travelling long distances. The mobile laboratory's significance has been enormous because since its arrival it has improved the service to the Caledon hospital.
More clinics are encouraged to have their specimens processed in the mobile laboratory which is equipped with all the state of the art analysers and the latest GeneXpert facilities."
Source: AllAfrica.com
Date: 1 November 2011