SUVA - The Pacific Paramedical Training Centre (PPTC) is a not-for-profit organisation at Wellington Hospital, New Zealand. It was established in 1980 to support laboratories in the Pacific and South-East Asia through training and developmental assistance. In 1990, PPTC was first designated as WHO Collaborating Centre for External Quality Assessment in Health Laboratory Services. Since then, the PPTC has steadily developed this relationship through provision of external quality assurance programmes, consultancy and training.
Small Pacific island countries are often unable to access the highest-quality health-care education and the latest techniques in disease control and treatment. As a result, physicians and medical experts in Pacific island countries lack the skills and information they need to treat patients adequately.
In 2003, Pacific ministers of health created the Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN). POLHN aims to ensure that health workers have access to the continuing professional development that they need. POLHN also builds capacity among local and regional academic institutions to develop and deliver online, continuing professional development programmes.
Since 2006, PPTC and WHO have jointly provided an online Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science for Pacific laboratory workers through POLHN. The diploma is made up of six modules: Laboratory Technology, Biochemistry, Haematology, Microbiology, Transfusion Science and LQMS, and has both theory and practical components. Students are also required to sit two end-of-year examinations. In 2013–2014, 14 laboratory technicians from six countries completed the Diploma. In 2015–2016, 32 laboratory technicians from American Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu are enrolled.
PPTC also provides on-site support in Laboratory Quality Management Systems (LQMS) training and auditing with WHO training tools and PPTC materials. In 2015, it provided support to the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In 2016, the PPTC will be providing in-country training in partnership with WHO to strengthen monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands . The PPTC continues to provide its External Quality Assurance Programme (EQA) to 69 laboratories in 20 countries in the Asia Pacific region.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has pledged its ongoing support to the PPTC by awarding a five year grant funding arrangement which will conclude in 2020. PPTC’s in-country activities will support Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu to reach full laboratory accreditation status by 2020. The four countries will receive concentrated in-country support with regards to “Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Development and Laboratory Service Development/Strengthening”, to reach the International Accreditation Standard ISO15189 by 2020. MFAT also funds the PPTC’s EQA programme for the majority of the participating laboratories, and from 2016 MFAT will also fund PPTC’s Diploma programme for 32 students.
Learn more:
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Pacific Paramedical Training Centre website: http://pptc.org.nz/
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