Remain vigilant and observe all international guidelines in fighting COVID-19

Dear Editor,
As you and my fellow laboratory professionals are aware, we are in the midst of a deadly pandemic caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19).
This virus is leaving a trail of fatalities in almost every country that it touches, and healthcare workers are in its immediate path.
Our laboratory professionals are on the frontline of defense in this global fight to “save lives by our skills”, as the CASMET motto says.
Whether employed as a Medical Technologist (MT), Laboratory Technician (MLT), Laboratory Assistant, Phlebotomist, Cytologist, Histologist or Specialist, it is our job at times to collect samples, and always to process and test samples to provide patients’ results. I urge you to remain vigilant, and to observe all international guidelines while practising standard precautions and transmission-based precautions on all patients and laboratory samples.
The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical at this time. Let’s take extra precautions: with frequent handwashing and frequent glove removal; with the use of face shields, masks and disposable gowns, wherever possible. We must also protect against aerosols and spills, and use centrifuges with sealed lids.
If these protective measures are not available to you, I urge you to petition your employers to make them available, as the landscape as we knew it has dramatically changed.
For private medical laboratories that may not have the necessary PPEs for this pandemic, I urge you to petition your Ministry of Public Health to supplement your lab with these items until you receive the appropriate inventory.
Most governments within the Caribbean have stockpiles in the event of a pandemic, and whether public or private, laboratories are an essential part of the healthcare system. During these times, our laboratory professionals should not be exposed to any patients while they are without the proper personal protective equipment.
On behalf of The Caribbean Association of Medical Technologists, I wish to thank all medical laboratory professionals for staying the course and providing the essential services of accurate, timely, quality results to the COVID-19 healthcare teams and to the patients and physicians at large.

Respectfully,
Bonaventia Culmer, MT (AMT)
(ASCP)
President of The Caribbean
Association of Medical Technologists
(CASMET)