{"id":7186,"date":"2020-10-22T11:15:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T15:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/?p=7186"},"modified":"2020-10-22T11:15:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T15:15:48","slug":"sgu-and-government-of-grenada-establish-diagnostic-testing-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/22\/sgu-and-government-of-grenada-establish-diagnostic-testing-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"SGU And Government Of Grenada Establish Diagnostic Testing Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

St George\u2019s University (SGU), working in collaboration with the Government of Grenada have upheld their commitment to the nation \u2014 to ensure that its residents remain safe and healthy in the midst of the global pandemic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Establishing testing capabilities on campus and the donation of critical medical equipment to Grenada General Hospital have been crucial components of the University\u2019s ongoing partnership with the Government.<\/p>\n

Establishing one of the first diagnostic testing facilities in the Caribbean, aptly demonstrates the extent of SGU\u2019s commitment in its partnership with the Government of Grenada, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), and the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), a research and education foundation based at SGU.<\/p>\n

Utilising the technology and qualified technicians from St George\u2019s University\u2019s School of Veterinary Medicine, state of the art qPCR testing operations on campus have so far resulted in more than 3,000 individuals (with and without symptoms) receiving accurate, safe, and prompt Covid-19 diagnostic tests, with results received within eight hours. These outcomes helped guide the government\u2019s Covid-19 policies, including at airports and ports of entry, during the peak of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Dr Calum Macpherson, Dean of the School Graduate Studies, professor of parasitology and public health researcher, and lead of qPCR testing operations, expressed, \u201cBecause there was a global shortage of re-agents required for testing, we couldn\u2019t have had the testing capacity if not for the extraordinary efforts of the Minister of Health. We have one home \u2014 Grenada \u2014 and our common agenda was to diagnose the virus, and implement a test, trace, and isolate policy from early on in the pandemic, which has served us well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campus-based site served as the national testing service into the summer months, and still operates as one of approximately 250 quality control labs around the world that are overseen by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Results from SGU\u2019s lab have been in 100% concordance with the expected test results from WHO.<\/p>\n

SGU\u2019s diagnostic team also helped design and set up the Ministry of Health\u2019s testing site at Grenada General Hospital, including training of lab staff and troubleshooting with initial qPCR lab testing. According to the WHO, Grenada has reported 27 Covid-19 cases and zero Covid-19 related deaths to date. SGU\u2019s testing site has since been a beacon of excellence for the entire region.<\/p>\n

Hon. Nickolas Steele, Grenada\u2019s Minister of Health and Social Security of Grenada, and member of the Executive Council of the World Health Organisation, said, \u201cThis public private partnership is an exemplar of cooperation. Remarkable results have been achieved through such collaboration and we are grateful for the efforts of SGU which has demonstrated that it is a true partner in Grenada\u2019s development.\u201d<\/p>\n

As hospitals and medical facilities around the world saw a surge of patients, St George\u2019s University tapped into its international consortium of resources to facilitate the acquisition and delivery of 18 additional ventilators bringing the total stock to 20. SGU also secured tens of thousands of pieces of personal protection equipment, 18 combination defibrillator monitors, 2 handheld ultrasound machines, 2 portable X-ray machines, as well as blood gas analysers and supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe substantial support from SGU served to bolster our efforts to tackle Covid-19. Their acquisition and donation of critical medical resources such as ventilators and PPE for health workers helped to ensure that we were better prepared to deal with any potential outbreak of the disease here in Grenada\u201d said Dr Carol McIntosh, Director of Hospital Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince breaking ground more than 40 years ago, all the way to present day, we truly believe that we couldn\u2019t have chosen a better partner for this university,\u201d said Dr Charles Modica, Chancellor of St George\u2019s University. \u201cOur mission has always been to improve healthcare on national, regional, and global levels. We are thrilled to have had the support of the government and the people of Grenada throughout this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

SGU<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St George\u2019s University (SGU), working in collaboration with the Government of Grenada have upheld their commitment to the nation \u2014 to ensure that its residents remain safe and healthy in the midst of the global […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45,39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"category-local-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?fit=845%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?fit=845%2C500&ssl=1",845,500,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg",845,500,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg",845,500,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?fit=300%2C178&ssl=1",300,178,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?fit=845%2C500&ssl=1",845,500,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?fit=845%2C500&ssl=1",845,500,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?fit=845%2C500&ssl=1",845,500,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?resize=845%2C438&ssl=1",845,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?resize=678%2C381&ssl=1",678,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?resize=678%2C500&ssl=1",678,500,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SGU-corona-1.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Health<\/a> Local News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"St George\u2019s University (SGU), working in collaboration with the Government of Grenada have upheld their commitment to the nation \u2014 to ensure that its residents remain safe and healthy in the midst of the global [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7187,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186\/revisions\/7187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}