The future of the National Public Health Institute, widely known as the “reference lab,” is uncertain with the imminent end of funding from the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to Director Dr Nadira Ramcharran.
The laboratory, which opened its doors in 2008 with funding from the CDC, has been doing early infant HIV diagnosis, which in the past had required that samples be sent to Africa or the rapid test being administered to the baby only until after 18 months.
Importantly, the lab may soon be able to do tuberculosis (TB) culture tests that would within hours indicate whether a patient is resistant to the
