Health minister Vijaykumar Gavit on Monday inaugurated several new facilities at JJ Hospital, including a central laboratory with a machine donated by a diagnostic company. The machine can conduct 187 types of tests and is the second such machine in India.
Other initiatives that were kickstarted include a basketball court and a common room for students, a revamped drug store and advanced laser technique for skin and plastic surgery. However, the highlight remained the “Central Lab” with the machine Cobas 411 which can test 187 parameters.
Dr L.G. Abhichandani, vice-dean and professor of Biochemistry, said, “Cobas 411 is the only in the state. The only other hospital to possess this is All India Institute if Medical Science (AIIMS) in New Delhi. The machine can assess from some of the simplest to some of the most important parameters like cancer marker, tumour marker, drug monitoring and much more.”
Dr T P Lahane, dean of the hospital said, “The new machine will enable us to save a lot of trouble for the patients and even the reports will be delivered in a very short time.”
With the new machine, all the tests can be done at once with just one blood sample. Dr Abhichandani said, “This is ‘one prick, one collection and one report’. With 5ml of blood collection, all the tests that a patient will practically require can be performed.”
Multinational diagnostic company Roche Diagnostic has donated the machine and the company will also bear the cost and responsibility of maintenance of the machine, said Dr Lahane.