|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 3 September 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
A mobile medical lab for North-East As a result of two decades of war in Sri Lanka, the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) encountered many obstacles in achieving good health care facilities. The most common grievance faced by them was the distance one had to travel to seek quality medical care, even for very basic laboratory testing estimations of haemoglobin or blood sugar levels. This may now be the norm of the past and not the future any more The World Health Organization (WHO) country office in Colombo introduced the first mobile laboratory in Sri Lanka recently. This project was first launched in the Trincomalee District. WHO initiated this project with the aim of improving the quality of laboratory testing in the rural and periphery levels, especially in the war affected areas of North East province. Good quality laboratory testing is the key to proper medical care. Speaking about the facilities provided by this Mobile Lab, Dr Maya Attapattu, WHO Consultant for laboratory services said, While providing basic laboratory facilities such as White blood count and differential count (WBC-DC), ESR, VDRL, Blood sugar levels, haemoglobin estimates, pregnancy tests, we also train and update the medical staff at each of the peripheral level hospitals we visit on the performance of simple laboratory tests and laboratory equipment. The medical officers in the North East province greatly appreciate the new service as it allows them to update themselves on the use of latest equipment in laboratory services. Instead of spending money and building a well-equipped laboratory at one location in the war affected province, we thought of developing a mobile lab that could actually be accessible for more number of people, said Dr M. Attapattu pointing out that building a fixed laboratory would have been very costly and time consuming. Thus a mobile Lab was an ideal solution to the pressing needs of the IDPs. This new facility was warmly welcomed by all the villagers and doctors in Nilaweli, Thampalakamam and Kilivedy villages of the Trincomalee District it visited. A number of pregnant mothers, who would have to otherwise travel for a few hours to attend to their regular tests, benefited most from this new service, said a volunteer working at the project. Large numbers of people gathered at all the villages the Lab made visits to. Usually the people living in the area are informed about the date and time as to when the Lab will be at their village through local announcements and various other methods. The results of the test are given instantly to the patients free of charge. (For further information please contact: WHO office Colombo, 226, Bauddaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7, Tel: 00-94-1 502319, Fax: 00-94-1-250 2845) |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
