Hitachi, in conjunction with Batswadi Pharmaceuticals, has released a point of care blood testing device in SA. This is the first release of the product outside of Japan.
Christopher Whitfield of Batswadi says this device, the Hitachi Clinical Analyzer S40, is fairly small, measuring approximately 55cm in width, 60cm in depth and 45cm in height and can perform over 20 different types of blood tests.
This device can complete one blood test in 12.5 minutes and each test thereafter in 30 seconds. This allows the patient to receive their results on site, in their consultation time, he says.
According to Batswadi, this would be a great help in rural areas where transportation of medical samples can take up to three days and could lead to inconvenient subsequent appointments. Results in real time will aid patients will illnesses that can change within a few days.
The device consists of a single pipettor, an incubation rotor, a multi wavelength photometer and a 2D code reagent cartridge. The data is stored on the main CPU and it is possible for the information to be printed or sent to a PC, he concludes.
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