KOTA KINABALU: University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has set up a haemophilia diagnostic laboratory at the School of Medicine.
THANK YOU: Rosnah (right) receiving a souvenir from the deputy dean of School of Medicine, Dr Kamarudin Mudin.
The lab is manned by a scientific officer recruited from Kuala Lumpur and became operational on Aug 16 this year mainly to provide diagnostic services to 26 private and government hospitals in the state and 27 hospitals in Sarawak.
UMS vice-chancellor Datuk Seri Panglima Professor Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon said the laboratory had brought great relief to both haemophilia patients and clinicians alike.
It provides coagulation laboratory services for the diagnosis of bleeding disorders for 53 hospitals in the region.
“Despite being managed by only a staff of two, the haemostasis laboratory operates round the clock seven days a week since blood samples now need not be sent to Pusat Darah Negara Kuala Lumpur. The new laboratory provides quick diagnosis of haemophilia disorders within three to four hours and immediate clinical management of the patients can be acted upon without much delay,” he said. Kamaruzaman said this in his speech at the one-day national conference of updates in haemostasis which was attended by 200 participants from Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei Darussalam.
His speech was read by Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Rosnah Ismail.
The conference was organised with the aim of bringing out awareness on the various bleeding disorders, especially from the laboratory diagnostic point of view.
Kamaruzaman said it would also help the participating scientific officers and medical laboratory technologists to acquire the skill as well as the simple laboratory procedures of identifying with certainty the various common haemophiliacs.
He added that medical doctors and nurses would benefit from the lectures, especially in terms of haemophilia-patient-care.
He expressed the hope that with the acquisition of the new knowledge, similar facilities would be established in the hospitals in Sandakan, Tawau, Kudat and Labuan.
Kamaruzaman also mentioned that a manual on the diagnosis of common bleeding disorders has been compiled and published to assist laboratory scientists and medical laboratory technologists in their diagnostic works.
Medical doctors and nurses could also benefit from the manual.