New medical lab boosts service to Manchester

Regional medical technologist for the Southern Regional Health Authority, Donovan Leon, says the new lab at Christiana Health Centre will now offer residents of that town and several communities an easier alternative to travelling long distances to get different types of blood tests done.

Opened last Friday, it was built at a cost of little more than $20 million through a collaboration between the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and their implementing partner, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), who have been lending support to the HIV treatment site at the Mandeville Comprehensive Health Centre since 2017.

Leon said: "In essence, we have now moved out of the health centre in Mandeville to the new facility where we have more space, but persons can still pick up their lab test results in Mandeville after they have been done in Christiana."

Services to be offered at the lab will include cholesterol testing, complete blood count tests, HIV tests, as well as tests for sexually transmitted disease and point of care testing for persons with syphilis.

"Persons who come to the health centre for other reasons can now come across to us and request the test they need. The lab will enhance what the clinic offers," Leon told CENTRAL STAR. The clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

good celebration

Speaking at the opening of the lab, US Ambassador Donald Tapia said it felt good to come and celebrate what both countries had done together because the health and welfare of Jamaicans was important to him and his government.

"The idea for the lab was born two years ago and we are pleased to see its completion today for the benefit of the Jamaican people and the different clinics that are in the parish. The lab will serve as a central hub for primary care in testing of HIV of all profiles available. It will serve as a resource for over 30 health centres in Manchester," Tapia said. "We look forward to our continued partnership as we work together to combat HIV to try get a generation free of the disease, move the stigma from people with HIV, as anyone can contract it."

Since January, some 18,000 persons have been attended to as a result of the partnership between CDC and NASTAD.

The turnaround time for results will now be two to three days. The new lab will also have a greater impact on Manchester health services by offering better value-added services, such as requiring no referrals, ease of travel and better response to urgent cases.