STARLIMS Selected for Public Health Information Network in Jamaica

STARLIMS Corporation's entirely web-based LIMS will be implemented by the Ministry of Health of Jamaica. The US $1 million LIMS solution will create a public health information network for various laboratories, the nationwide blood bank and the Comprehensive Health Center. In so doing, it will help improve diagnostic capacity and accelerate delivery of lab results to physicians and point-of-care facilities.

The new LIMS will also promote information sharing across the public health network. By providing relevant and up-to-date information to decision-makers, it will facilitate timely response to emerging public health issues. By providing a solid public health information management infrastructure, it will support the Ministry's ongoing actions to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"We are delighted to participate in this important initiative of the Jamaican Health Ministry," said Itschak Friedman, CEO of STARLIMS Corporation. "We are committed to delivering a state-of-the-art solution, which will help the Health Ministry achieve its crucial public health objectives." Friedman emphasized STARLIMS's commitment to public health networks, noting that the company has almost 30 implementations in public health agencies around the world.

Jamaican Minister of Health Horace Dalley (left) signs the contract for a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). At right is STARLIMS CEO Itschak Friedman.

IT is Essential to Health Care
At the signing of the agreement, Horace Dalley, Health Minister of Jamaica was reported to have said, "You cannot in this day and age deliver good healthcare to your people unless you have a backbone in information technology to support that. You need nurses, doctors and other health professionals; you need facilities that must be state-of-the-art—but all of that will still keep you in the past unless you are able to put in a good information technology system."

LIMS Integrating Blood Bank Data
One of the important benefits of the project is that it will integrate a Hemasoft blood bank data management system. The system will support adherence to international recommendations, by consolidating electronic donor and patient data and blood component control data.

Funding from the World Bank and the Jamaican Government
The system is being jointly funded by the World Bank and the Jamaican Government through its National HIV/STI Control Prevention Program and will be initially implemented at the National Public Health Lab (NPHL) and National Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank). Another three labs—the Victoria Jubilee Hospital Cross Match Lab, the Kingston Public Hospital Emergency Lab and the Comprehensive Health Center—will be integrated within a year.