World Hepatitis Day
Friday 28 July marks the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Hepatitis Day. According to WHO more than 325 million people world-wide are infected with Hepatitis and WHO is committed to eradicating the disease.
Over the past year, the Australian Government has made great strides towards eliminating Hepatitis C by committing more than $1 billion to fund a program to make the latest generation of Direct Acting Antivirals available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme allowing thousands of Hepatitis C sufferers to access the medicine they need.
Pathology plays a critical role in helping to eradicate this disease from its initial diagnosis through to monitoring of treatment, patient status and ultimately test of cure. Australian Clinical Labs performs hundreds of thousands Hepatitis C tests each year and has invested in new laboratory technology that delivers faster and better results.
Testing via molecular technology has become an integral part of the testing and treatment and to that end Clinical Labs has invested in the state of the art Roche Cobas 6800 analyser which will be used for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV testing
“More than 380 samples can be tested in an eight hour period so the biggest benefit to clinicians is that Clinical Labs can deliver faster turn-around times and improved quality of test results due to a more streamlined process," Tony Field, Head of Infectious Diseases said.
"It’s exciting to see Clinical Labs investing in the latest technology. The upgrade will bring tangible benefits to our clinicians, patients and our employees. It’s very much aligned to our Vision to lead in science and technology," Tony said.
The Roche Cobas 6800 is now operational and is running the last of the validation samples whilst awaiting regulatory approval from the TGA (expected soon). A second 6800 will also be arriving end of August which will provide excellent back up, increased throughput and even faster turn-around times.