As part of efforts to aid in Saint Lucia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, LUCELEC recently officially handed over testing equipment to the Ezra Long Lab of the Owen King EU Hospital.

The equipment is expected to further strengthen the testing capacity of the Ezra Long Lab.

Director of the Ezra Long Lab Dr. Wayne Felicien says the equipment is needed and will play a significant part in addressing testing challenges for COVID-19 in Saint Lucia.

“Persons would remember when we went through our situation during the months of January and February where results delayed up until seven days to even more. With the assistance of the extraction device that LUCELEC have provided, we have been able to keep to our turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours which we have been able to maintain through large parts of the months in March, April and into May.”

Managing Director of LUCELEC Trevor Louisy says his organization remains committed to contribute to the national COVID-19 response effort and believes the donation of testing equipment will assist tremendously.

“At that time, in the last quarter of 2020, we were beginning to see an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and we wanted to do all we could to get the equipment here quickly. That is the equipment for which we’re doing a symbolic presentation today. Symbolic, because the equipment has been in use; sadly, not as quickly as we had hoped due to some set up challenges. Nonetheless, we are pleased to have been able to make this contribution to improving the efficiency with which the lab can process PCR samples.”

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar-George expressed gratitude to LUCELEC for the donation and says this will contribute towards expanding the nation’s testing and curbing the COVID-19 virus.

“This capacity that we now have and a lot of the people of Saint Lucia who hated long periods for results are now seeing those benefits when within 24 hours are you are able to tell if you positive or negative to know how to proceed. It has also supported our contact tracing efforts in making it a lot more efficient and reducing spread. So, this is really an invaluable tool in supporting and managing COVID-19.”

The testing equipment is valued at EC$114, 000.