Hospital staff undergo training

STAFF of a district hospital in Gulf will be able to operate and maintain a machine that detects tuberculosis (TB) and drug resistant TB after going through  training.
The Kikori Hospital staff underwent training on how to operate and maintain the GeneXpert machine that provides on-site testing of sputum for TB confirmation and drug-resistant TB in the district. They will now be able to treat TB patients in the area according to the results taken from the machine.
A specialist biomedical technician from the Meddent Medical Services, Manas Sukumara, said the GeneXpert machine would be used for diagnosing TB by detecting DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in TB bacteria through sputum samples in less than two hours.
“At the moment, smear positive TB diagnosis through sputum smear microscopy and culture takes weeks for results to be ready and delays treatment initiation,” he said.
Sukumara helped to work on the machine and trained the hospital staff on its operation and maintenance.He said the machine would assist health workers in taking appropriate measures to address TB cases in the area.