Evangel Hospital
Does the patient have
cerebral malaria or meningitis? Amoebic dysentery or shigella? Does this prospective blood
donor have HIV? The lab gives answers for vital questions like these. Lab workers provide
routine lab services during regular working hours, plus 24-hour emergency services. As in
the rest of the hospital (other than the missionary physicians) the lab is fully staffed
by trained Nigerians.
Naturally our capabilities are limited in a third world hospital. The most common tests
are blood count, malaria smear, urinalysis, stool examination for parasites, and
cerebrospinal fluid examination. We do basic blood chemistries, sedimentation rates, blood
electrophoresis to detect sickle cell disease, sputum exams for TB, HIV screening and
other basic serologies, and blood typing and cross-matching.
Some things we wish we could do but can't at this point include blood and CSF culture and sensitivity, rapid and accurate serum bilirubin determination on small quantities of blood, and all kinds of pathology. Of course there are many, many other tests which would be "nice" to have now and then.