17 October 2022
THE Ministry of Health and Medical Services has received a state-of-the-art microbiology diagnostic machine from an Australian Charity Group based in Melbourne, Australia.
The SBD360,000 machine was officially handed over to the Minister of Health and Medical Services Dr Culwick Togamana by the Australia High Commission First Secretary for Health Dr Alex Stephens on behalf of ‘Reach 4 Your Future Foundation recently.
Dr Stephens said the blood culture machine is the mainstay of any clinical microbiology lab and will help the National Referral Hospital (NRH) diagnose and treat bloodstream infections quickly.
He said Reach 4 Your Future Foundation’s mission is to enable young people to participate in programs that deliver solutions for their communities.
“In this case, the Foundation was able to donate this equipment to the NRH through an existing collaborative partnership with the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne,” Dr Stephens said.
Dr Stephens explained that complementing this donation, Australia through its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is supporting the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in improving laboratory diagnostics systems through a range of activities.
These include the provision of a GeneXpert PCR machine for the COVID-19 outbreak and the recent arrival in Honiara of three prefabricated molecular diagnostic laboratories that will be installed at Taro, Munda and Lata soon at a total cost of SBD7.2 million.
“We are also supporting the extension of the NRH molecular laboratory, which is nearing completion, facilitated capacity building of local laboratory technicians, and provided SBD500,000 of budget support this year for procurement of equipment for the National Public Health Laboratory,” he said.
Source – Solomon Star News.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
