A four-day workshop aimed at strengthening laboratory services in the private and public sectors opened in Anguilla on Tuesday, January 31, at the Teachers’ Resource Centre. It is being facilitated by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in association with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) and is part of a regional undertaking funded by the European Union.

Anguilla Health Officials and CAREC Representatives

Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, declared open the workshop. He said the CAREC team was in Anguilla to assist in the development of a National Laboratory Strategic Plan. He noted that representatives of PAHO were also on the island discussing with the Ministry and the Health Authority the organisation’s biennial budget and the training of medical technologists and others with the allied medical services.

He said that, with the advent of the National Laboratory Strategic Plan, all laboratories on the island would have to comply with the requirements so that there would be the same standards and operation procedures. Mr. Rogers, a registered Medical Technologist, pledged to work closely with the Health Authority and other health stakeholders to ensure improvement of the delivery of health in Anguilla.

Cross section of workshop participants

Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority, Dexter James, said that from November 2002 the Princess Alexandra Hospital Laboratory had been involved in a project called Strengthening Laboratory Services in the Caribbean. He stated that the principal aim was to improve the management of, and coordination between, public and private laboratories in the region leading to increased availability and improvement in the quality lab information and systems.

He said a key component of the project was the development of a five-year National Strategic Plan. “It is anticipated that such a plan will give focus and direction for the laboratory efforts to implement quality management systems, clarify priorities, aid consensus from laboratory stakeholders and provide a sense of common objectives.”

He indicated that the improvement of the laboratory services was part of ongoing efforts to have the health system in Anguilla accredited.

Section of participants at workshop

Project Officer with CAREC’s Implementation Unit, Valerie Wilson, said the aims of the project were to improve the quality of life of the people; the development of laboratory standards; the making of enabling legislation; the accreditation of medical laboratory systems; the human resource capacity for training and implementation of quality systems for laboratories in the region; and the management of laboratories at the national level.

She stated that improving regional coordination was one of the major roles of CAREC which serves as the disease monitoring, prevention and reporting agency for 21 countries in the region.

Ms Wilson was grateful to all who had been involved in coordinating and attending the workshop to help create an exciting future for medical laboratories in Anguilla.
The Vote of Thanks was delivered by the Senior Medical Technologist, Everette Duncan, who also chaired the opening ceremony.

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