PAHO Consultant Assesses Quality of HIV Laboratory Services.

PHILIPSBURG:— Last week, Valarie Wilson, a consultant who was sent on behalf of PAHO from the Caribbean Medical Labs Foundation located in Trinidad visited St. Maarten in order to conduct an assessment of the laboratory services available on the island, with a special emphasis on HIV. This included: HIV testing procedures, genotyping, CD4 counts, STI testing procedures, opportunistic infection procedures for examples syphilis, dengue and tuberculosis, algorithms, quality of services, and accessibility of services at the St. Maarten Laboratory Services (SLS), Dr. van Osch’s clinic, the SXM AIDS Foundation, and the Lepres Laboratory on the French side.
During her visit, Mrs. Wilson met with representatives from HIV/AIDS Programme Management Team (PMT), Public Health Department, Collective Prevention Services (CPS), SLS, SXM AIDS Foundation, lead HIV/AIDS physician Dr. van Osch, and the Lepres Laboratory. She also had the opportunity to attend the joint collaboration HIV test outreach at La Bamba on Tuesday July 23rd. Minister Cornelius de Weever was also at La Bamba and said that he was very impressed with the initiative of the young people/ volunteers to reach other young people while they were out partying.
From the information gathered on her visit she will be writing recommendation to PAHO on how the various island can be assisted. Mrs. Wilson also provided one-on-one advice on how St. Maarten can enhance their laboratory services on the island. As St. Maarten is aware of the changes that need to be made and the direction in which they would like to head, they will be looking to PAHO to provide the technical support needed in order to ensure that the Laboratory services offered on St. Maarten are of top notch quality. “The technical assistance granted by PAHO illustrates that our associate membership and our willingness to work with PAHO has its privileges, responsibilities and benefits. This is a win –win situation for St. Maarten and PAHO, and we are looking forward to the final report to guide us in making the right decisions as we strive to provide a better service to the people of St. Maarten,” said the Minister.
The Ministry is busy exploring how they can strengthening the relationship between Government and the laboratories to safeguard the quality of services being offered. Ensuring access the healthcare services for the people residing on St. Maarten is highly important and will be given top priority for the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour.