24-hour lab services at New Amsterdam hospital

New Amsterdam Regional Hospital is now offering 24-hour operations in its medical laboratory. The round-the-clock service began in February after the labs were relocated to a new building within the hospital compound. Services include microbiology, serology, biochemistry and haematology tests.

Technical Advisor to the Public Health Ministry, Dr Samantha Kennedy, recently had a walk-thru of the labs.
“I remember when I was working here a couple of years ago…from 2007 to 2009, the problem we had was that there was no place for the lab technician to sleep at night, and so it was an extra cost on the hospital. Every time somebody comes in and needs the service after 4pm, you would have to get a driver, a vehicle to go for that person, and it takes time, because people are living at various distances. So for that person to get the care they needed in terms of labs, it took a long time,” she is quoted by the Department of Public Information as saying.
“Our laboratory services have been improved because of the new structure that we have, and we are working on getting the backlog of lab work…and on getting more equipment so that we can move at a faster pace,” Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Colin Bynoe added.