All posts by pptc

Wellington Lab Visit

April 21, 2023Uncategorizedpptc

Wellington Lab Hosts Pacific Scientists

Published on: Awanui- The Lab- 21st April 2023

Acknowledging Awanui- The Lab for this publication.

Last week, our team at the Wellington hospital lab welcomed scientists from the Pacific Pathology Training Centre (PPTC) for a tour of the laboratory.

“The PPTC does great work in providing training and support for medical laboratories across the Pacific and South-East Asia. These visits are an opportunity for their scientists to see first-hand the work we are doing, all our equipment and automation, and to support their continuing education,” says Wellington Operations Manager Max Reed.

PPTC senior manager Russell Cole says the new staff and students at the Centre are “scientific missionaries.”

“All our scientists have different specialist areas and will be involved in consultation work across the Pacific region’s laboratories.

These labs are often not as technically advanced or automated to the level we see here in Wellington, so this visit enables our scientists to build their knowledge, future vision and expertise, so they can train the trainers across the Pacific and inspire them towards international accreditation standards of practice.”

Wellington Lab Visit

L-R- Emmanuel Marshall (Consultant Laboratory technology and Information Systems and Education Manager, Russel Cole ( Laboratory Quality Manager and Microbiology Specialist), Angela Lewis (Consultant Molecular Testing Platforms and Portable Laboratory Projects Manager, Telesia Apikotoa (Consultant Laboratory Quality Management and Blood Transfusion Specialist)

The Pacific Way Update 2023- Volume 1

March 24, 2023Pacific Waypptc

Welcome to the PPTC’s new Financial
Controller, Karl Romijn

Karl is a qualified
Chartered Accountant who gained his Bachelor of Commerce and Administration
from Victoria University, Wellington in 2010. His professional roles have
included senior business advisor, commercial account manager, and chief
financial officer for several organisations in Wellington and apart from having
an absolute love for numbers, spreadsheets and financial data, he is an avid
and keen sportsman who continues to play and coach a variety of sports
including football, tennis, and cricket

Farewell to John Farrell for over 10 years of Service to the PPTC

John is a qualified Chartered Accountant who provided accounting services to a number of not-for-profit organisations including the PPTC. John was Chief Accountant for 14 years with Lotto NZ where he managed a team of accounting professionals. John has also provided accounting services to the National Bank of NZ as well as Child, Youth and Family. John worked for not-for-profit organisations for many years, an area in which he developed broad knowledge and skills in both their accounting and business needs. The PPTC thanks John for his fine efforts as Financial Controller of the PPTC for over 9 years and his dedication and commitment to the Pacific Region in assisting PPTC Consultants in meeting the health needs within Pacific communities. The PPTC wishes John the very best for his approaching retirement and hopes he can now take the long-awaited rest that he is deserving of.

WHO COLLABORATING CENTRE FORUM: 28^th and 29^th
November 2022 Cambodia

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific presented the Fourth Regional Forum of WHO Collaborating Centres in the Western Pacific from 28 to 29 November 2022 in Siem Reap, Cambodia and Phil Wakem (CEO) and John Elliot (PPTC Chair) were invited to attend as representatives of the PPTC. The PPTC has carried the title of WHO Collaborating Centre for External Quality Assessment since 1990. The Forum enabled WHO and its Collaborating Centres to reflect on how they have worked together since the previous Forum, and using the lessons identified from the last 4 years, participants were able to identify opportunities to maximize the contribution of WHO Collaborating Centres in countries to respond to current and future health challenges.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General, addressing participants via video message.

Can you help?

If any New Zealand medical laboratories have
items of diagnostic instrumentation that have been recently upgraded or
continue to be stored in the laboratory but are actually surplus to
requirements, the PPTC would be most grateful if such items could be donated
through its Centre to Pacific Island laboratories where there is an exceptional
need. Pacific laboratories have very restricted budgets and often cannot afford
to replace troublesome instrumentation that continues to breakdown and which is
often discontinued because it is so outdated.

The PPTC would also welcome teaching resources in terms of wall charts, Haematology case studies (stained blood films), projector slides, textbooks and journals (within 10 yrs of publication) etc , for teaching purposes in the Pacific, if you no longer have a use for them. Any contribution is so valuable to us.

Please
contact:

Phil Wakem
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific Pathology Training Centre
Wellington
New Zealand
Email: pptc @ pptc.org.nz or phil @ pptc.org.nz

Pacific Way Update – April 2018

June 8, 2018Uncategorizedpptc

The PPTC has recently published a book which covers the past 30 years of its history and training activities at the Wellington Centre, the South Pacific and Asian regions.

This account will be of interest to the many members of the Institute who have contributed so much to the success of the PPTC over this period.

Please contact the PPTC for a copy. The cover page is illustrated below:

PPTC History

The intention of the book is twofold: to provide a record of this period and to foster a continuing interest in the development of the health laboratory services of the Pacific Island and Asian regions.

Despite its small size and limited resources, the Centre has become a major player in the development of medical laboratories and blood transfusion services in the Pacific Island region. It is also a small but significant part of the New Zealand overseas development aid programme.

The PPTC began with the aim of providing short-term technical training programmes in basic medical laboratory disciplines which would be appropriate, affordable and sustainable and could bring immediate benefits to the work settings in which they would be used.

While the PPTC has broadened its laboratory training programmes to meet the changing needs and new demands of the region’s health services, this philosophy still remains the Centre’s focus in 2018.

The Centre has international respect for the excellence of its programmes and has provided a continuing source of training and technical expertise for health laboratory workers throughout the Pacific Island and Asian regions.

This contribution was recognised when the Centre was designated a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization in 1990 and it continues in this role to the present time.

In recording these events it is fitting to say that none of this would have been possible without the initial and continuing support of the following organisations and people:

New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
New Zealand Red Cross
World Health Organization
New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science
Wellington Hospital
Department of laboratory Services , Wellington Hospital
New Zealand Blood Transfusion Service
Norman Kirk Trust

About the Author

Dr Ron Mackenzie (QSO, PhD, FNZIMLS) the co-founder of the PPTC and author of the book is a retired medical laboratory scientist who led the PPTC from its earliest days on the Wellington Hospital campus. He is a life member of the NZIMLS and worked in hospital medical laboratories from the early 1950’s in Kaitaia, Auckland, Masterton, Invercargill and Wellington. He worked as a WHO and Red Cross medical Laboratory consultant, and was a member of the first New Zealand Civilian Surgical Team to Qui Nhon, Vietnam in 1963. Ron was awarded the QSO in 1993 for the major role he had played in the development of the medical laboratory and blood transfusion services of the South Pacific and Asian regions.

Newly appointed staff to the PPTC

It is with pleasure that the PPTC Board of Governance welcomes Vichet Khieng to join the laboratory specialist team. Vichet graduated in 2008 with a Batchelor of Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Otago and majored in both advanced clinical biochemistry & diagnostic molecular pathology. In 2010, soon after gaining registration as a medical laboratory scientist while working at Dunedin hospital, he acted as technical manager at the Hawkes Bay community laboratories. He was responsible for the biochemistry department including reviews of the internal and external QC, manuals, and preparation for IANZ auditing. Vichet relocated to Wellington in 2012 and joined the department of biochemistry at Wellington hospital. He has had wide experience in NZ hospital and community laboratories and will be a valuable addition to the PPTC staff.

External Quality Assessment in Haematology

Elizabeth Tough

Is a New Zealand registered medical laboratory scientist who has over 50 years experience in the leadership of blood film examination and evaluation.

In 1967 Elizabeth underwent 5 years of professional training at Wellington hospital and on completion, became scientist in charge of the general haematology laboratory and chief morphologist in the years to follow. She also became the hospital laboratory expert in blood parasitology and bone marrow preparation for microscopic evaluation.

Elizabeth has worked with the PPTC as a lecturer in blood parasitology and more recently has accepted the shared role of coordinator and haematology consultant for the PPTC’s haematology EQA programme

A brief update – March 2016

May 26, 2016Uncategorizedpptc

Established in 1980, the Pacific Paramedical Training Centre [PPTC] is a not-for-profit incorporated organization located on the Wellington Hospital campus, New Zealand. The PPTC is a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization, Western Pacific Region, and its mission is to provide training in the appropriate Medical Laboratory Sciences, external quality assurance programmes and its development related assistance for the clinical laboratory and blood transfusion services. Particular emphasis being placed on the developing countries of the Pacific Region.

The teaching and development aid programmes offered by the PPTC are governed by one principle: ‘They must be appropriate, affordable and sustainable for the health care setting in which they will be used’. The emphasis is on appropriate and practical short-term training, that will ensure immediate benefit for the trainees in their work setting. In 1990 the PPTC was designated a WHO Collaborating Centre for External Quality Assurance and is now the leading provider of EQA Programmes to the Pacific Islands.

In 2006 the PPTC commenced a Distance Learning Programme in conjunction with WHO and now provides courses in the majority of the Medical Laboratory Science disciplines in addition to the teaching and training courses provided in-country and at its Centre in Wellington.

The PPTC has extensive experience working in laboratory strengthening throughout the Pacific and it is well respected by Pacific Governments for its ability to understand and work within Pacific cultures.

Through the continued support of the New Zealand Overseas Development Programme, the PPTC has been granted a new five year contract (2016 – 2020) in order to deliver it’s Pacific Laboratory Quality Accreditation Programme.

The activity design on which the five year contract is based, was formulated through a comprehensive analysis of the issues and state of laboratory services in the Pacific. As a result, it has been decided to target investment to four specific countries as being more likely to achieve sustainable, transformational development than spreading services too thinly across the region. Countries selected for specific investment include Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

This activity aligns itself with the New Zealand Aid Strategic goals to improve the health of the people in these Pacific countries as a key achievement focus area and investment priority.

This initiative will improve the health of our Pacific people and the regional health status against infectious disease outbreaks and enable early detection of chronic diseases through improved medical laboratory diagnostic services. It will improve Pacific Health through quality improvement measures established within the medical laboratory services. Such measures will ensure that the services are appropriate, affordable and sustainable to support diagnostic health services and treatment options.

This will be achieved by

Increasing the workforce capability and capacity of Pacific laboratories.
Strengthening the infrastructure and expanding the scope of testing within laboratory services.

This programme to be delivered by the PPTC will:

Develop an accreditation framework for each selected Pacific Medical Laboratory, that enables it to be measured against international ISO15189 standards;
Support laboratories in the four selected countries to continue the progress towards the development and achievement of internationally recognised accreditation standards.

This will be achieved in the following way:

Improve laboratory capability and capacity for the detection and management of infectious diseases, their diagnosis and the monitoring risk of non-communicable diseases and associated safe management of blood transfusion products.
Increase the quality of laboratory sensitivity testing and antibiotic advice to clinicians to ensure that the most appropriate antibiotic is used. This will contribute to international endeavours to address the rise of anti-microbial resistance.
Increase the sustainability of laboratory services by increasing the range of tests able to be performed in-country, thus increasing the timeliness of results and reducing the reliance on expensive off-shore referral testing;
Provide an external quality assurance programme and regional benchmarking for laboratory performance and associated risks.
Provide foundational courses for Pacific laboratory technicians through in- country centre based training and distance learning.

June 29, 2015Pacific Waypptc

Greetings to you all,

Wellington based training courses 2015.

This year the PPTC is offering 7 courses and these include:

Haematology and Blood Cell Morphology: 2 March – 27 March 2015
Health and Safety and Infectious Diseases: 13 April – 8 May 2015
Laboratory Quality Management Systems: 25 May – 19 June 2015
Biochemistry: 13 July – 7 August 2015
Microbiology: 31 August – 25 September 2015
Phlebotomy: 5 October – 23 October 2015
Blood Transfusion Science: 2 November – 27 November 2015

New Centre Based courses for 2015

Health and Safety and Infectious Diseases

a) Health and Safety Component:

Implementing a laboratory health and safety programme, hazard identification, risk assessment, laboratory premises and design, biohazard waste and disposal of contaminated material; Personal protection; Code of conduct; Staff health and medical surveillance; Administrative procedures; Chemical and dangerous goods storage; Material data safety sheets; Major incident response; Laboratory emergency planning; and Laboratory biosecurity concepts.

b) Infectious Diseases Component:

Notifiable diseases; Role of public health; Surveillance and monitoring disease outbreak; Workforce occupational exposure; Communicable diseases; What makes an epidemic; Vaccine availability; Bacterial causes of infectious diseases: Isolation procedures to identify and confirm major bacterial pathogens associated with gastrointestinal infections, seafood poisoning and marine environments, food and water contaminating organisms; Bacterial agents of pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis; Agents of sexually transmitted infections. Viral causes of infectious diseases: a selective summary of disease specific viruses such as gastrointestinal viruses; respiratory viruses; parasites of infectious disease and mycology review.

Phlebotomy

The PPTC is offering a three week training course on Phlebotomy. The course contents will address the following topics:

The role of a phlebotomist in the medical laboratory diagnostic process; Anatomy and physiology of specific human tissue (This will take into consideration sites of blood collection, and overall discussion with reference to the circulatory system and normal Haemostasis/Blood coagulation). Patient safety and safety of procedure; The practise of Infection control; Adverse incidents with the application of first aid; The Laboratory and its sample collection policy with reference to laboratory collection forms, Patient identification, Post collection requirements, Tests profiles and Test requirements; Medical abbreviations and medical terminology; Pre analytical variables such as patient status, Collection techniques, Sample storage and transportation; Blood collection (venous and Capillary); Patient assessment and preparation including considerations for both elderly patients and neonatal patients; Site preparation; Sample collection devices and equipment in terms of antiseptics, dressings, evacuated blood collection equipment’s, needles and syringes, tourniquets and sample collection tubes; The Collection process and post collection process for both venous and capillary samples; Blood culture collection; Specialised collection procedures, collection and handling of non-blood specimens (Urines, faeces, sputum, saliva, swabs, mycological samples and seminal fluid, in terms of equipment, collection, specimen stability, sterility, storage, transportation and handling; The handling and transportation of aspirates, Histology and Cytology samples; Specialised test procedures such as Bleeding time, Mantoux test and skin prick testing.

In country teaching and training

Short term in-country teaching workshops have proven extremely valuable and have made an immediate and significant impact in terms of capacity expansion and up skilling personnel, however on-going consolidation programmes are essential if such a difference in the development or enhancement of skill is to be further advanced and maintained.

The PPTC is currently compiling a potential list of technical consultants who would be prepared to travel the Pacific region on request to assist with capacity building and strengthening of Pacific Island laboratories.

The PPTC has labelled the situation in the Pacific in terms of Haematology and Biochemistry as requiring intense corrective action and therefore it plans to intensify its presence through in – country training in 2015 recruiting additional Haematology and Biochemistry expert consultants to increase both frequency and coverage of visits across the Pacific. Consultancies are generally 1 to 2 weeks in duration and dependent on PPTC funding availability.

If you are a qualified NZ registered Medical Laboratory Scientist with at least 15 yrs experience in Haematology , Biochemistry or Laboratory Management and would like to be added to our list of consultants we would like to hear from you.

If you could forward a copy of your current CV to the PPTC it would be most appreciated.

Teaching resources

Depending on the availability of funding, the PPTC intends to supply appropriate learning material (text books, journals, etc) to Pacific laboratories that are desperately in need of educational resources so as a reference centre can be established within the laboratory as a promotional way forward in terms of professional development.

Can you help?

If any New Zealand medical laboratories have a surplus of teaching resources in terms of wall charts, Haematology stained blood films, projector slides, textbooks, journals etc, the PPTC would be most grateful if they could be donated through its Centre to Pacific Island laboratories where there is an exceptional need.

Overseas Travel:

January 2015: Phil Wakem and Navin Karan both attended the PIHOA (Pacific Island Health Officers Association) meeting in Guam. The theme of this meeting focused on the enhancement of quality with reference to the public health laboratory services in the US affiliated Pacific Islands through regional capacity building.

Russell Cole, the PPTC’S Laboratory Quality Manager carried out his first LQMS visit to Kiribati and during his stay also visited the Marine Training Centre to assess the laboratory’s quality programme.

Pacific Infectious Substances Shipping Training (ISST) -Nadi, Fiji , 9- 11 February 2015,

Navin attended the above training workshop provided by WHO in Nadi Fiji . The training addressed shipping requirements for all potentially infectious substances, focusing particularly on highly infectious materials. He also presented a paper on “Using New Zealand Laboratories for Diagnosis and Confirmation of Emerging Infectious Diseases” as part of the training session on “Strengthening Laboratory Preparedness to Emerging Infectious Diseases”.

Farewell to Clare Murphy

Clare is a NZ graduate from the Australian National University. She started her career in Laboratory work at what was then Gisborne Hospital, becoming a specialist in Clinical Chemistry at Wellington Hospital working mostly in Quality, initially in quality control, and latterly in quality management where she became the Laboratory Services Quality Manager for Capital and Coast DHB. Clare performed this role for many years.

Since 1987 and for nearly three decades on, Clare pioneered and managed the PPTC Clinical Chemistry External Quality Assessment Programme for laboratories across the Pacific and South East Asia. Clare initially began as a volunteer and took responsibility for 12 Pacific participating laboratories using Wellington Hospital QC material. From this, the programme has now expanded to 58 participants which now utilises RCPA QAP material and statistics allowing the programme to monitor a large variety of analytes. Clare has worked closely with the RCPA QAP, and their support and generosity is greatly appreciated by the PPTC.

It is of great sadness that we are to say farewell to Clare as the PPTC Regional External Quality Assurance Co-ordinator for Biochemistry. She has given total dedication and commitment to this programme and has contributed greatly to the education and capacity strengthening of Clinical Laboratories throughout the Pacific and South East Asian regions. The PPTC is very fortunate however to retain Clare as a consultant and as such, she will continue to offer support to the Centre and to Pacific Laboratories in terms of guidance and expertise in such areas as Laboratory Quality Management and REQA.

Apart from PPTC responsibilities, Clare continues to hold the position of Point of Care Testing Coordinator at Wellington Hospital, New Zealand.

Contact Us:

Phone and E-Mail: Telephone (64) (4) 389 6294, E-mail:pptc@pptc.org.nz

Postal Address : PO Box 7013, Wellington 6242 , New Zealand

2015-2016 POLHN PPTC Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science Programme – Applications Open

November 13, 2014Distance Learning Programmepptc

The PPTC in conjunction with POLHN is now accepting applications for PPTC POLHN Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science course starting in March 2015.

The modules on offer for the 2015 – 2016 Diploma Cycle will be:

2015 Outline:

Laboratory Technology March – May 2015
Haematology July – September 2015
Biochemistry November 2015 – January 2016
Examination Part 1 February/ March 2016

2016 Outline:

Microbiology March – May 2016
Transfusion Science July – September 2016
Laboratory Quality Management System October – December 2016
Examination Part 2 February/ March 2017

Please submit the POLHN APPLICATION FORM (click to download)and your staff have until 31 December 2014 to submit your enrolment forms to POLHN office – polhn.sp@wpro.who.int and PPTC – pptc@pptc.org.nz.

Please encourage your eligible staff members to enrol for this Diploma programme, and ensure that your staff meet the Selection Criteria for POLHN Courses (click to download) requirements before applying.

Selection of students will take place on 30 January 2015, and the announcement will be made a week later to confirm if your application has been successful.

About the PPTC POLHN Diploma in Medical Laboratory Sciences Programme:

Each module is divided into six sections to cover the basic principles and theory of that laboratory science with emphasis on the ‘how and why’ and the importance and relevance of accurate and reliable laboratory testing in both the initial diagnosis of disease and the monitoring of treatment. At the end of each section there are a series of multi-choice questions which must be completed and returned to the PPTC for marking. There is also an associated log book with each module (except Laboratory Technology and Laboratory Quality Management System) which the student must complete.

The content of each log book is based on routine procedures currently employed within each discipline and as each log book task is completed, signoff by the charge technician or head of department is required until the log book is fully completed. Each log book not only details the practical tasks to be carried out, but also contains a comprehensive theory section associated with each procedure and therefore acts as an information resource once completed by the student. Each log book will be returned to the student once completed and marked by the PPTC so as it can be used by the student as a reference.

On successful completion of each module which includes theory and practical requirements, successful students are awarded a certificate of achievement in the discipline studied.

There is an examination based assessment for the DipMLS programme as well. The examination will be divided into two parts, part 1 covering the theoretical contents from the first three modules namely Lab Technology, Haematology and Biochemistry and will be held at the end of the year 2013. Part 2 will cover the theoretical contents from the second year modules; Microbiology, Transfusion Science and Laboratory Quality Management Systems and will be held at the end of the year 2014. The examination booklets for part 1 and part 2 will be presented to students by the charge technician in the respective laboratories. The charge technicians will be expected to supervise these exams at the end of the respective year, and these examinations will be conducted in the strictest examination environment.

Students who successfully complete all six [6] modules, and the respective end of the year examinations will be awarded a Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science granted by the PPTC.

Unfortunately, in the past a number of enrolled technicians have registered for these courses but have not made any attempt to start these modules. Due to this, all participants will be closely monitored by our team and students may be involuntarily withdrawn from a module if there is no commitment shown in completing the assessments. Remember these courses are made available to laboratory technicians for their benefit free of charge from the WHO. These courses enable technicians to be updated in the current laboratory practises, and is for their benefit alone.

For further information please see: https://pptc.org.nz/distance-learning/ or Contact: Navin Karan, Programme Manager, PPTC, PO Box 7013 Wellington, New Zealand Telephone: 644389 6294 Fax: 64 4 389 6295 Email: pptc@pptc.org.nz

PPTC Wellington Based Training Courses for 2015

November 13, 2014Coursespptc

The Pacific Paramedical Training Centre is pleased to announce its Wellington based training courses for 2015.

Please start your applications earlier prior to the start of the course as funders and international organisations who offer scholarships usually require 3 months to process applications.

For the Charge technicians, Laboratory Managers, Human Resource Teams and Programme Managers, please advise your laboratory staff accordingly and assist them in securing financial sponsorship to attend this course. Be aware that there are limited spaces available for these courses and it’s never (almost) too early to start the application process.

PPTC 2015 Centre Based Training courses:

Venue: Pacific Paramedical Training Centre, Wellington Hospital Campus, New Zealand

Haematology and Blood Cell Morphology - 2 March – 27 March 2015

Health and Safety and Infectious Diseases - 13 April – 8 May 2015

Laboratory Quality Management Systems – 25 May – 19 June 2015

Biochemistry - 13 July – 7 August 2015

Microbiology - 31 August – 25 September 2015

Phlebotomy – 5 October – 23 October 2015

Blood Transfusion Science – 2 November – 27 November 2015

Click to download 2015 Course Information Flyer and PPTC Course Application Form, or please refer to https://pptc.org.nz/courses/ for detailed course information.

For further information contact: Navin Karan, Programme Manager, PPTC, PO Box 7013 Wellington, New Zealand Telephone: 6443896 Fax: 64 4 389 6295 Email: pptc@pptc.org.nz

PACIFIC WAY OCTOBER 2014

November 11, 2014Pacific Waypptc

Greetings from the PPTC.

Laboratories are an essential component of public health systems, particularly for disease surveillance, diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Health laboratories in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) have identified multiple challenges to effective performance, including financing, qualified and skilled workforce, information, medical products and technologies, service delivery and leadership and governance.

The PPTC is recognised internationally as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in terms of teaching and training programmes provided to National Health Laboratories of Pacific Island Countries. The PPTC is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating centre. It offers excellent training programmes both in New Zealand and Pacific Island settings. These short term in-country teaching workshops have proven extremely valuable and have made an immediate and significant impact in terms of capacity expansion and up skilling personnel, however on-going consolidation programmes are essential if such a difference in the development or enhancement of skill is to be further advanced and maintained.

The goal of the PPTC is “to assist national health laboratories of the Pacific region to develop a laboratory service that is appropriate, affordable and sustainable and will provide immediate benefits to the healthcare settings in which they are used”.

New Zealand based courses provided by the PPTC at the Centre this year were as follows:

Haematology and Blood Film examination 4 August – 29 August

Haematology continues to be weak in performance in Pacific Island Laboratories and this is due to a devastating lack of expertise in “Blood film examination and interpretation” throughout the region. The PPTC offered a 4 week training course in August of this year at its Centre in Wellington and four students attended: June Teiti from the Cook Islands, Nerisa Faumuina from American Samoa, and Bridgit Kavana and Niam Pokale both from Papua New Guinea. The course was a great success and the students gained a great deal of knowledge and skill over the 4 week duration.

: Back L-R: Russell-PPTC, Niam-PNG, Nerisa-American Samoa, Phil-PPTC, Linda-PPTC.Front L-R – June-Cook Islands, Bridgit-PNG.

Microbiology 1 – 26 September

The PPTC also offered a 4 week training course in Microbiology in September at its Centre in Wellington and three students attended : Senisaleti Pasikala from Tonga, Felix Kokoa from Tuvalu, and Bernard Tatireta from Kiribati.

This was also a great success in terms of the learning experience the students received. The PPTC also facilitated two visitng lectures from the WHO Collaborating Centre for STD and Neisseria Reference Laboratory, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney who updated the students on N.gonorrhoeae identification and antimicrobial sensitivity testing over three days.

: Back L-R: Russell-PPTC, Bernard-Kiribati, Felix-Tuvalu, Ratan-Sydney Visiting Lecture, Pinati-Samoa.Front L-R: Rodney-Sydney Visiting Lecture, Seni-Tonga

Laboratory Quality Management 29- 24 October

The third course offered for this year is the Laboratory Quality Management course. Three students attended this course and they were Ravendra Prasad – CWM Hospital , and Asena Bukadua – Labasa Hospital, Fiji and Tekaibeti Taratake from the DOTS TB Laboratory, Kiribati.

: L-R: Sharon-Kenepuru Hospital, Ravendra-Fiji, Asena-Fiji, Tekaibeti-Kiribati, Russell-PPTC

Blood Transfusion Science 3 – 28 November 2014

This will be the final course in Wellington for this yea, and this currently is in session at this moment. We are pleased that the New Zealand Blood Service will once again be offering their expertise in terms of teaching and training to our nominated students. Three students are attending this course and they are: Tejal Chauhan from Princess Margaret Hospital, Tuvalu, Puaseiesi Pila from LBJ Tropical Medical Centre, American Samoa and Nabiri Tiaon from Tugaru Central Hospital, Kiribati.

Overseas Travel:

In July of this year, the implementation of Laboratory Quality Management Systems (LQMS) continued with visits carried out in Tonga (Navin Karan), Kiribati (Russell Cole) and Samoa ( Filipo Faiga).

Navin then travelled to the four Federated States of Micronesia in the northern region of the Pacific and delivered teaching and training in Microbiology as a commitment to our in-country teaching programme.

Rob Siebers visited Samoa in September to assess progress in LQMS as did Clare Murphy in Vanuatu.

Phil Wakem travelled to the Cook Islands in late September to meet with the staff and to assess LQMS, and in October, Phil, Navin and Rob will travel to Fiji to attend the Fiji Medical Laboratory Science Conference which is to be held on the 9-11 of the month.

Navin will then continue on to Kiribati and later to American Samoa to complete his LQMS visits for this year. Towards the end of October, Rob is scheduled to visit Tonga, and Russell will visit Samoa which will also complete their travel for this year.

Phil returns to Manila in November to attend an international forum of World Health Organisation Collaborating Centres. The PPTC is a registered Collaborating Centre of WHO, and Phil will attend this forum along with 200 participants from 124 WHO Collaborating Centres located in the Western Pacific Region.