A pioneer among the original private pathology laboratories in South Africa, Lancet has since gone on to cement its presence in the territory through 60 years of continuous growth and development, with a primary focus on pairing high quality, cutting edge pathology services with client-centred, efficient turnaround times.
With its main offices and laboratories based in Johannesburg, Lancet operates primarily in the private healthcare environment, while also offering specialist pathology services for the corporate, insurance and mining sectors. Its range of service provisions is extensive, whether this be sophisticated molecular and cytogenetic investigations or advanced chemical analyses, and it possesses the capability to process upwards of 1.8 million of these complex tests every month.
Lancet Laboratories’ nascent forays into the pathology industry took place in the heart of the central business district of Johannesburg, although a move in 1996 of the main laboratory to Richmond, a district strategically well placed at the intersection of Johannesburg’s main highways, meant that it could henceforth effectively service the whole of the Gauteng region.
Alongside its hallmark of continual growth and development, Lancet is defined by providing diagnostic excellence. One of the company’s most significant historical landmarks has been the 2000 merger of the Johannesburg based practice with the Pillay MacIntosh practice in Durban, to allow not only a much expanded geographical distribution of its service but also aconsolidation of combined expertise. It is this commitment to growth, together with Lancet’s central role in providing the specialist pathology services and infrastructure required to fight against the key health issues affecting thecontinent, which has seen it become the first choice of partners for those seeking pathology and diagnostic services in Africa.
According to the World Health Organisation, medical laboratory services are crucial to modern day health-care provision, as they enable doctors to diagnose diseases correctly and deliver the right treatments in a much shorter timeframe. Lancet specialises in PCR and Genetic tests for Oncology and infectious Diseases, Anatomic Pathology (Histopathology/Cytopathology /Immunohistochemistry), Tuberculosis testing, Microbiology, Endocrinology, Clinical Chemistry, Coagulation assays, Haematology, Toxicology and Occupational Health tests. Its services are offered directly to patients, their doctors and clinical groups and a vast array of clientele, ranging from corporate groups, NGOs, insurances, universities and research teams through to occupational health establishments.
Partly key to the continued and notable success that Lancet enjoys is its industry leading team of more than 100 specialist pathologists (medical doctors and PhD scientists), each with his or her own particular area of expertise, which heads up the service. These individuals combine to ensure the quality and validity of investigations, while simultaneously offering consultative services to physicians, managed healthcare institutions, the occupational health environment and the insurance industry sectors. The provision of services across such a diversity of fields and industries has afforded Lancet the opportunity for considerable geographical growth, seeing Lancet burgeon from its strong base within South Africa to its current conducting of operations in 12 countries throughout Southern, East and West Africa.
In Kenya, Lancet established in October 2009 and has gone on to expand to its current 15 service points, becoming in 2012 the largest private independent laboratory network. Lancet Tanzania, meanwhile, has grown to possess an extensive branch network with laboratories and patient service points across its key population centres. It is also actively seeking to grow its presence through collaborative work with other laboratories and hospitals in towns across the country, from Dodoma to Mwanza, Arusha to Tanga and Zanzibar, among many others. Its Ugandanoperations comprise a presence in fourmedical centresand hospitals in Kampala.Across all sites quality is stringently implemented and international standards of excellence are followed, to ensure that any laboratory opened operates to international standards and is audited to these standards. Lancet also places emphasis on close interaction with the local community it serves, training and empowering local staff via its external teams whoimplement the requisite procedures, and then withdraw to leave the local team of experts to head up operations.
Lancet’s primary focus on achieving an ever expanding footprint has seen the company recently open a new facility in the Rwandan capitalofKigali, furthering its growth into East Africa and adding to its 40 branches in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. This marks its first foray into Rwanda, one which Group CEO of Pathologists Lancet East Africa Dr Ahmed Kalebi is confident will bring huge advantages to the country, saving its residents from needing to travel abroad either for specialised or routine medical laboratory tests. “The new facility avails specialised laboratory tests that were unavailable in Rwanda before, thereby enhancing accessibility and affordability for better healthcare within the country,” Dr Kalebi stated. “Our aim is to enhance access to quality medical laboratory services which is at the heart of quality healthcare.”
The newly constructed facility is placed to offer some 3800 medical laboratory tests, many of which have never been available to the region and its inhabitants to date. The new facility in Rwanda is closely linked with Lancet’s main branches in Nairobi and South Africa through a dedicated fibreoptic and wireless network, allowing its pathologists to ensure that international expertise is present in every result. Lancet Laboratories Rwanda was established in September 2015 as an independent laboratory in the country following the success of its sister laboratory in Kenya, and expects to have extended its service offerings to the whole of Rwanda by the close of the first quarter of 2016.
The final months of 2015 brought about further notable achievements for Lancet Laboratories, with the company unveiling in October Africa’s first ever automated microbiology lab, in its Durban location. This is a cutting edge technology, and one which will contribute to reducing health care costs via a quicker and more efficient diagnosis of medical conditions and the subsequent treatment of those patientsaffected. This is the first of its kind for microbiology in Africa, and is poised to revolutionise patient diagnosis in KwaZulu-Natal.
Known as the BD Kiestra, the newly commissioned machine at the Lancet Laboratories in Durban will enable the testing of different medical samples like urine and blood in a much quicker and more standardised manner than previously. The General Manager of Kiestra’s developers Becton, Dickinson and Company, Ian Wakefield, says that the success of Kiestra in Durban has brought about plans to roll out the same technology to Johannesburg and Pretoria soon. “As a manual method, it’s very time consuming, very laborious and requires a lot of resources to do. What it has done is firstly standardised clinical practice leading to improved quality of results. It’s really setting the tone in terms of the future of microbiology showing that through an automated system you can get better efficiencies.”
The potential benefits look set to resolve some of the key issues currently being experienced in this field of testing, as Wakefield adds: “We are excited to bring to market cutting-edge technology with proven capabilities that will revolutionise traditional methods of testing, the total lab solution is designed to streamline workflow, increase productivity and address the challenges of ever-increasing specimen volumes coupled by a lack of skilled workers.”
The launch of the BD Kiestra system at Lancet Laboratory has seen microbiology in South Africa taken to new heights, with the machine designed to operate as a 24/7 diagnostic microbiology laboratory. It is geared toward reducing the current time between gatheringsamples and the detection of infections, and is considered a significant boon for the medical profession. Its features can perform automated specimen processing, automated plate incubation and the production of high quality images that can be viewed on high-resolution monitors day and night, and as such replace traditional, manually conductedprocessesnow considered laborious and time-consuming.
Curbing antibiotic use and resistance is at present a more pressing concern than ever before, and one which finds itself high on the agenda of the Department of Health and healthcare service providers and funders. It was revealed in the 2015 report ‘The State of the World’s Antibiotics’ that antibiotic consumption in humans is increasing globally, with a total global antibiotic consumption increase of more than 30 percent reported between 2000 and 2010. The result has been an increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which will be significantly aided through the introduction of BD Kiestra, which will be an important contributor to the antimicrobial stewardship process. As such, early diagnosis will enable medical practitioners to modify antibiotic administration and thus reduce antibiotic resistance for many medical conditions.
“The BD Kiestra system offers a comprehensive makeover of the microbiology laboratory. The benefits are evidenced by the increase in productivity by as much as 2.5-fold to 4-fold as reported by laboratories adopting microbiology automation,” stated Dr A K Peer, a Medical Microbiologist at Lancet Laboratories and project leader for the implementation of BD Kiestra.“The strong focus on quality, efficiency and quick turnaround times to obtain patient results is extremely beneficial in optimising patient management. As early adopters of this revolutionary system, the forward-looking approach towards innovation of the calibre of BD Kiestra will enable us to significantly improve patient care by consistently providing a first-class pathology experience.”