Medical supplier launches pioneering testing kit

A NORTH West medical products supplier is launching a new diagnostic system for lethal infectious diseases such as malaria at an international conference in Africa.

Bolton-based Woodley Laboratory Diagnostics will unveil the Insight Diagnostic System at the Africa Health event at the Johannesburg Expo Centre today.

The system is designed to help health clinics in remote rural areas diagnose potentially-lethal infectious diseases very quickly and on-site.

Having a haematology and biochemistry screen in 15 minutes is never normally achieved without sending samples off to a lab, which is virtually impossible in locations such as rural Africa.

According to the World Malaria Report 2011, compiled by the World Health Organisation, in 2010 the African region alone accounted for 174 million of the 216 million estimated malaria cases in the world and 596,000 deaths.

Mike Wickham, managing director of Woodley Laboratory Diagnostics, said: “The Insight Diagnostic System is a cost effective solution for health screening at the point of care that can allow critical, life saving diagnostic tests to be performed in virtually any setting.

“The system has been created in response to an un-met need in the field of health screening, particularly for more remote health clinics across Africa.”