[ 2021-02-17 ]

Noguchi Virology lab gets information system to expand COVID-19 testing capacity
The Virology Laboratories of Noguchi Memorial
Institute for Medical Research, University of
Ghana has been equipped with a digital laboratory
information system to enable it to expand its
COVID-19 testing capacity.








The SchuyLab digital Laboratory Information System
(LIS), installed by Healthcare Federation of Ghana
(HFG), will expand COVID-19 testing capacity at
Noguchi by over 30 percent, and increase the speed
of delivering test results.

It will also strengthen the traceability,
efficiency, confidentiality, archiving and
retrieval of results.

The installation of the system is the first phase
of the “LIS for Ghana” Project, with similar
installation expected to be done at the National
Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) in
Accra this year.

The “LIS for Ghana” Project is being
implemented at a cost of more than GH¢600,000.00
(US$100,000).

Speaking at the opening of the system in Accra,
Dr. Rosemary Keatley, Managing Director of Medlab
Services Ghana Ltd and a Board member of HFG, said
the project would have a major multiplier effect,
including the building of sustainable capacity to
manage the COVID-19 pandemic on behalf of the
people.

Professor Abraham Anang, Director of Noguchi,
expressed his gratitude to Dr. Keatley and the
project team, as well as donors for the
installation of a state-of-the art system.

“We are ramping up the rate of COVID-19 testing,
and the SchuyLab system will automate the logging
of samples, verification of test results and
archiving of data, which previously had to be done
manually,” he added.

Madam Janet Chennault, Vice-President of Schuyler
House, Inc. said the company was pleased to
contribute its quota toward Ghana’s fight
against the pandemic.

She added that Schuyler House would continue to
make good tools that could be used to increase the
efficiency of health care and improve the human
condition.

Madam Julian Opuni, Managing Director of Fidelity
Bank Ghana, on her part, said living up to the
Bank’s brand promise of ‘Together We’re
More’, it would continue to support the
government and other institutions that were at the
forefront of the fight against COVID-19.

“We believe that it is very important to support
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research
with modern equipment that will increase their
testing capacity to help Ghana defeat the COVID-19
pandemic,” she said.

SchuyLab was developed by the US software
developer Schuyler House Inc, a CompuGroup Medical
company, based in California, and has been
installed in over 1,000 laboratories worldwide,
including the US, Canada, the Caribbean, East Asia
and Africa.

The system has been in use at Synlab Ghana Ltd
(formerly Medlab Ghana Ltd) since 2011.

The installation of the LIS project is 80 percent
funded by private donors with the remainder
provided by the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.

Notable donors include the Ghana COVID-19 Private
Sector Fund, Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd, Sir Sam
Jonah, the Leibinger family of Germany, Medlab
Services Ghana Ltd, SchuylerHouse Inc., and some
anonymous donors in Switzerland.

Source - GNA

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