• Submitted by: manso
• Health and Medicine
• 07 / 31 / 2010

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The health ministry is setting up a nationwide network of medical labs to regularly test the health of large swaths of the population, the director of the Havana-based Centro de Inmunoensayo told the healthcare commission of the national parliament.

The diagnostic labs, available in each municipality on the island by next year, encourage preemptive testing for cancer, diabetes, kidney diseases, dengue, HIV and lepra.

The labs use the SUMA (Sistema Ultra Micro Analítico) technology, developed by the Centro de Inmunoensayo. TecnoSuma, the marketing division for the system, offers complete labs, and also provides its copyrighted hardware and software, which uses millions of dollars worth of foreign-supplied components.

TecnoSuma exports to China and Latin America help fund the cost of setting up the nationwide diagnostic network, José Luis Fernández Yero said.

Some 130 labs will be set up by the end of the year.


Source: Cubastandard.com