The Tribune

By Bonnie Culmer

Chairperson of the Bahamas Association of Medical Technologists

Key words that come to mind to describe clinical laboratories in the Bahamas today are state-of-the-art technology; growth; severe shortage of Bahamians; tremendous opportunities for advancement.

While travelling as chairperson of the Caribbean Association of Medical Technologists (CASMET) some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit many medical labs throughout the Caribbean as far south as Guyana and also in the United States.

I have seen labs that can process over 16 million samples per year like the one in Detroit, Michigan ,with fully automated equipment and relatively few staff on board and I’ve seen those that test a few thousand samples per year with a lot of manual testing and a lot of staff.

However, of the labs in our region, the Bahamas is by far the most advanced, at least in my humble opinion. One visit to the newly expanded lab at Princess Margaret Hospital says it all. The technology, especially in chemistry and blood banking, is second to none, with a layout that will rival any lab in the US. Also at Doctors Hospital and a number of the private labs in the Bahamas, we have some of the latest laboratory equipment and lab information systems to reach the US market.

Our medical technologists, both public and private are required by the Bahamas Health Professions Council to be certified by an accredited body and to be licenced by the Health Professions Council. This is not the case in many Caribbean islands.

Many of them do not have legislation governing the profession as yet, and for some that have the legislation, the techs may hold degrees, but certification, which is a testament of competency assessment after completing a formal training programme, is not a requirement.

Our labs are all inspected annually and licenced or cited by the Health Facilities Council. Phlebotomists (persons drawing blood samples) are fully trained in the Bahamas and certified by American Medical Technologists.
Unfortunately, there is a severe shortage of Bahamians studying medical technology, or clinical laboratory science as it is now called by many universities.

As a result, foreigners are being hired to fill the vacancies. The opportunities for Bahamians are endless because the profession continues to diversify.

Apart from being a general lab tech, there are positions for quality control managers, in transfusion medicine, blood bank specialists, microbiologists, chemistry specialists, haematologists, in procurement and inventory, cytologists (reading of pap smears), and histo-technologists (reading tissue samples).

At present the delay in pap smear results, which can be life threatening, can take as much as three months in the public system due to lack of personnel.

We desperately need more Bahamians to study cytology. This is not only a problem locally, but throughout the region.

For this reason, a programme recognised by CASMET has been established in St Kitts, known as Mediserv.

Apart from the professions on the bench, as we call it, laboratory managers are often chosen for administrative positions because of their acquired skills in continuous quality improvement day in and day out within the laboratory.

Over the years, the Bahamas Association of Medical Technologists (BAMT), which began in 1965 as a branch of CASMET, continues to enhance and promote the profession through blood drives, exhibits and continuing education seminars.

During the week of April 20 -26, National Medical Laboratory Week is celebrated around the world. Medical labs often highlight the profession and provide special customer and staff appreciation events while allowing interested students to visit the facilities.

Medical technologists both from the public and private sectors often visit primary and high schools to educate students about clinical laboratory science and to convince bright young minds to choose this as a career.

The Bahamas Association of Medical Technologists, under the leadership of myself as chairperson, marked a milestone by hosting the members of entire Caribbean laboratory community at the Atlantis resort for CASMET’s Biennial General Meeting and Scientific Symposium.

The event, which was very well attended by persons from as far south as Suriname and Brazil, was opened by Minster of Health Dr Perry Gomez.

At the event, exhibitors from as far as Israel, Brazil and throughout the US and the Caribbean displayed instruments and the latest in medical technology. 3

Some 33 seminars were offered on all aspects of laboratory medicine, with speakers from around the world including presentations from local presenters Dr Robin Roberts and Dr Joseph Evans, Dr Ismae Whyms and health coach Tanya Hanna. Pastor Mario Moxey also presented on “Being the Difference in the Workplace” and Agatha Marcelle, director of the Bahamas Training Institute, gave a presentation on “The Bloody Truth”. Award-winning speaker Lucia Berte of ‘Labs Made Better’ was the keynote speaker for the event. Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health, gave the keynote address at the awards banquet.

Moving forward there is a bright future for laboratory medicine in the Bahamas as the country looks towards medical tourism, stem cell testing and even sports medicine and anti-doping with the advent of our internationally recognised track and field stadium. Medical technology has also recently been introduced into the College of the Bahamas Allied Health Programme at the School of Nursing Campus. I look forward to seeing graduates soon from this four-year programme, and an introduction of a cytology programme, as it is sorely needed.