The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation donated a modern Convergys® PCRtist coronavirus sample analyzer complete with test cartridges to the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
The analyzer is designed for reliable detection of coronavirus in laboratory conditions. Convergys® PCRtist is automated as much as possible and almost 100% eliminates the human factor influence on the testing process and results. Also significantly reduces the research time and eliminates the risk of errors. Thanks to it, the results of the PCR test are known in less than two hours!
-The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation continues to help the country in the face of the threat of the COVID-19 epidemic. And as part of this assistance, today the Foundation donated a sample analyzer to the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. It allows to accurately and very quickly test not only for coronavirus , but also for a number of other diseases, up to tuberculosis and hepatitis. We handed over one more analyzer to the Donetsk region, where there was no such equipment. Now research is carried out in Mariupol, and samples no longer need to be sent to Kiev or Dnipro. The Fund’s sample analyzers are just a part of the systemic assistance that Rinat Akhmetov was the first to provide to Ukraine back in February. He allocated 300 million UAH to fight the threat of an epidemic – the most necessary, modern and expensive equipment has already been purchased and has been gradually arriving in Ukraine since February. Including analyzers. In addition, the regions have already received 300 thousand express tests, – said Natalya Yemchenko, a member of the Fund’s Supervisory Board.
The handover of the analyzer to the Heart Institute is a special event, she said. After all, the Fund and the medical institution have been saving children’s lives for many years within the framework of the project “Rinat Akhmetov – For Children. Healthy heart”.
– Hundreds of children have been operated, who were diagnosed with heart disease. This is a great honor for us, – noted Natalya Yemchenko.
Among the advantages of Convergys® PCRtist is its ease of use, because doctors do not need additional training, just read the instructions. To work with it, you do not need a large number of reagents – all the necessary reagents and control materials are in one cartridge that comes with the kit. The only important condition for work is that the room with the analyzer should be dust-free and the humidity level should not exceed 85%.
Natalya Yemchenko personally handed the certificate for the analyzer to the director of the Heart Institute Boris Todurov. According to him, today such advanced equipment is more important than ever before, and its role in saving lives has increased many times over.
-Thanks very much to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Our pediatric department of congenital heart disease has been receiving assistance from the Foundation for many years – occludes, oxygenators. And this device is especially important, because we are not an infectious diseases hospital, but we continue to receive emergency patients, and it is very important for us to identify possible diseases in the early stages. In addition, this device allows you to identify many other dangerous viruses. Therefore, even after the coronavirus epidemic, it will serve in transplantology for many years, which will make it possible to quickly detect infections in the donor and recipient, said Boris Todurov.
Natalya Korotchuk, the head of the institute’s clinical diagnostic laboratory, said that the analyzer donated by the Foundation is distinguished by its compactness and the ability to use it in normal, non-laboratory conditions.
-This is a closed system, and its uniqueness is that it works on cartridges that already contain special reagents and enzymes. Therefore, the device does not require separate rooms. Also, cartridges reduce the risk of infection of the medical staff, – explained Natalia Korotchuk.
She added that the analyzer of this model allows obtaining high-quality results in a short time.