18 train to fight TB
The National, Thursday February 12th, 2015
A PARTNERSHIP between Australian Doctors International and a global medical technology company will see a reduction in diseases in Papua New Guinea.
The project, delivered by a team of volunteer scientists from global medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), saw 18 laboratory technicians and assistants from New Ireland graduate from the first-ever five-day World Health Organisation laboratory standards course.
New Ireland has some of the highest incidences of communicable diseases in the Pacific.
Tuberculosis there is high and rates of malaria, at 548 cases in every 1000 people, are more than three times the national average.
Poor lab facilities, under staffing and limited training for lab scientists mean that these kinds of diseases are often misdiagnosed – or not diagnosed in time.
“One of the biggest errors in pathology is giving the wrong result to the wrong patient,” David Carr said.
He is one of four BD volunteers who travelled to New Ireland to deliver the course at Kavieng General Hospital.
“This can occur at the blood collection stage, in the lab, or when results are sent back to the doctor,” he said.
“Part of our training involved working together to develop one request and result form for all the laboratories in the New Ireland group, to minimise clinical errors that see the wrong results going to the wrong patients.”
The WHO course included sessions on standard operating procedures, document management, quality control, inventory management and biosafety.
Those who attended included 26 nurses and community health workers from Kavieng and Lemakot hospital.
“To be able to network and share ideas like that is so valuable in terms of improving capability across the region,” BD’s Lewis Cox said.
Benny Otoa, officer in charge of New Ireland’s Kavieng Hospital laboratory agrees that the new ‘Pathology Wantok’ who came out of the BD programme will ensure that the province’s smaller rural labs receive more support from each other, and from Kavieng, to process tests and order supplies more efficiently.