Basseterre, St. Kitts (January 10, 2007): The Joseph N. France General Hospital has started 2007 with increased efficiency after acquiring equipment that will assist with diabetes management.
To complement the health services already provided by the hospital, two NycoCard Reader IIs and Reagents, were purchased last year as part of the hospitals quest to continue to provide modern and efficient healthcare..~~adz:Right~~
Mr. Imran Ali of J.T. Rapid Diagnostics Ltd., Trinidad, which is the West Indies distributor of Axis-Shield POC came to St. Kitts in order to set up the equipment and provide initial training. He informed that Axis-Shield POC in collaboration with Eureka Health Services supplied the equipment and outlined several of the tests that it could carry out. These are hemoglobin A1C, Microalbuminuria, C-Reactive Protein and D-Dimer tests.
Mr. Ali said that his company has distributed 150 NycoCard Readers in the region and explained that less modern versions of testing equipment could only give readings for a specific point in time.
He said that for too long the Caribbean has been depending on the customary blood glucose measurement which changes from minute to minute. Mr. Ali noted that its fluctuations can be influenced by factors outside of the Doctors or health care professionals control. He noted that some patients tend to double their medications dose or starve themselves just before the test so that they can have a good result.
The representative of J.T. Rapid Diagnostics Ltd. said that the NycoCard Reader measures the HbA1c of diabetics and results are not as easy to manipulate. He said it measures the bound glucose to the hemoglobin cell over the last 120 days and its readings can prompt more strict diabetes management.
Mr. Ali said that the operation of the NycoCard instrument is relatively simple, it costs approximately US$750.00 while the Reagents cost about US$4.00 each except in the case of those for the D-Dimer test which costs US$4.50 to US$5.00.
