Blood samples pile up at hospital

ABOUT three containers of cancer blood samples are still waiting to be transported to Brisbane, Australia, for tests. These cancer blood samples were at the Honiara’s National Referral Hospital Laboratory Department since July.Head of the department, Alfred Dofai, said the delay to send the samples over was due to late arrival of special containers from overseas.Mr Dofai said they started sending the samples last month. Asked if the delay of not sending blood specimens in the last three months has caused problems to patients, he said they are dealing with case by case.“We normally send the urgent cases first. The normal blood samples would be sent after,” Mr Dofai said.However, according to a reliable source, the blood samples could not be sent over in July due to an outstanding bill of AUD$500,000 with Brisbane hospital.Mr Dofai said he hopes to see all samples sent by the end of the month.“We are sending the blood samples twice a week. This is to give time for doctors in Brisbane to test them,” he said.




Source: SIBC