By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
Paternity tests which have for long been done in South Africa will now be done locally after Cimas MEDLABS acquired a new gene sequencer, a machine that helps look at the genetic makeup of people and is not limited to paternity tests.
Cimas Group Medical Advisor and Head of Diagnostics, Dr. Tsitsi Moyo confirmed the machine would assist in screening for various diseases at a competitive cost.
“So, it’s helping us in terms of screening for diseases, so that we can look at adults or children and look at who is, for example, for cancer screening, who is prone to cancer, what kind of treatments can we use, and then we can proactively plan from a family health perspective and even from the family perspective.
“We can proactively plan, this is what we can expect in our population in the next 5, 10, whatever number of years we need the treatment.
“But what genetic studies also help us is to personalize treatment to a patient. For example, just to use something that probably we all look at, is maybe the treatment that we are having for hypertension or for glucose,” Dr Moyo.
She said the machine would also ensure patients get the right treatment which is personalized.
“We just have probably treatment for, generally treatment, but personalized treatment will help you after the test to see if the medication that I’m getting is correct for my type of illness. So, this is what we’re going into.
“We haven’t started the analysis yet. We’re in the training and just making sure that our lab is equipped, but we’re excited to be bringing that to the world,” she said.
This comes after Cimas MEDLABS, country’s top provider of diagnostic and medical laboratory services, has embarked on a project to renovate and re-equip all its laboratories to ensure that tests are offered onsite in a bid to provide timely results across the country.
Cimas MEDLABS is a designated Health Institution by the Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Association of Zimbabwe that provides several pathology tests including haematology, biochemistry, histology, microbiology, viral load and bone marrow aspirate to Cimas member and non-member patients referred by the primary healthcare clinics and private doctors.
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