ISN Medical, the leading supplier of medical diagnostic equipment in Nigeria, has donated premium laboratory instruments and reagents worth over 25 million naira to General Hospital, Kubwa to promote quality medical diagnosis of HIV cases among others.
Some of the instruments donated include Cobas c111 and AVL, with capacity to run over 40 tests including electrolytes, renal function, liver function, lipid profile, blood glucose, proteins and critical care and the Mindray BC5150 (a fully automated hematology analyser), Merck Lab Water unit and BD Consumables.
ISN is also sponsoring research by the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) aimed at studying the burden, prevalence, risk factors and incidence of non-communicable diseases among people living with HIV using five sites across the FCT, including Kubwa Hospital.
ISN becomes the first indigenous company sponsoring research study coordinated by the institute of Human Virology Nigeria.
Vitalis Echebiri, Acting Regional Sales Manager ISN, the motive of the donation is not to make financial gain but to strengthen indigenous research efforts through the provision of local funding for the development of medical content, which will be beneficial to all Nigerians.
Echebiri, said the study is a cohort research in which 200 people living with HIV will be registered, alongside another 200 people who test negative for HIV.
“They will be registered and tested periodically for non-communicable diseases over a period of two years.
Starting with Kubwa Hospital as the first site, the research will expand to other sites including University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Nyanya General Hospital, Asokoro District Hospital and Police Clinic”, he said.
Alash’le Abimiku, Executive Director of the International Research Centre of Excellence (IRCE), an arm of IHVN, conducting the study, noted that people living with HIV are living longer and getting to that age when they develop non-communicable diseases.
Collins Kalu, Project Coordinator for HIV services and Site Investigator for the research at Kubwa General Hospital revealed explained that the study will consider four groups of non-communicable diseases – cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer (cervical and prostate cancer) and chronic obstructive pulmonary airway diseases.
According to him, the research will provide data that can help in more proactive and effective management of these non-communicable diseases.
“This research is very important. Since we started comprehensive HIV services here, we have recruited 2,500 patients, majority of them are adult males and females. Due to the effectiveness of HIV treatment, many of them have survived and have now entered the adult age of life where diabetes, hypertension and cardiac diseases are very prevalent. You see them being on HIV treatment and at the same time they develop these other diseases.
“It is very important that we evaluate it so that while we are taking care of HIV infection, which for now they have almost overcome, we are also taking care of these other diseases that come with age. We are able to evaluate to know how many of them will have non-communicable diseases and if they do, we start managing it on time,” he said.
Lasisi Muideen, medical director of Kubwa Geber hospital expressed his excitement that the hospital is part of thr progressive research like this one. “Kubwa is in the heart of the city and its services straddle adjacent states – Kogi Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa. It is affordable to many classes of people.
