St Vincent mobile blood bank gets key equipment

The hospital’s Acti ng Chief Laboratory Technologist, Elliot Samuel, explained that in 2008, the MBB was procured by the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in partnership with the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP).

“However, we were missing some key pieces of equipment to operati onalise the MBB.

Through the Embassy of Japan, we were able to source a tube sealer and two blood mixers to assist with the collecti on and preparati on of the blood before we bring it back to the lab.” Samuel explained that a tube sealer seals off the bag of blood without causing haemolysis; the rupture or destructi on of red blood cells, or leakage of blood.

The blood mixers, meanwhile, “are important to keep the units (of blood) mixing so that the anti -coagulant, which is a chemical which prevents the blood from clotti ng, can fl ow through the sample.” Samuel added that while the MBB is in the fi eld, the donated blood has to be kept “in a state that prevents it from clotti ng, and the mixers are instrumental in that process.” “There’s also a combo centrifuge which has two diff erent functi ons. One of which allows us to ensure that the donor’s hemati c rate; your overall packed cell volume, is above a certain level. This qualifi es you as a blood donor. We can now perform that test in the fi eld; assess the person’s hemati c status.” Samuel was speaking with Business Day following the offi cial handing over of blood bank equipment by Japan’s non-resident Ambassador to SVG, Mitsuhiko Okada, on November 1.

Roxanne Williams, Administrati ve Offi cer at the SVG’s Ministry of Health, said MCMH was also due to a bronchoscope on November 11 while a delivery date of late December was set for urology equipment since management had, as of November 1, not yet fi nalised the list of items they were most in need of for urology pati ents.

Asked why Japan thought it important to allocate a porti on of SVG’s grant funding to MCMH’s equipment needs, Ambassador Okada said, “non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are common challenges facing SVG and the wider Caribbean. The equipment we are donati ng will be quite useful in coping with that challenge.” The total value of the donated equipment was US $90,000.