Canadian relief fund donates blood-scanning machine for Lviv (09/01/91)

Canadian relief fund donates blood-scanning machine for Lviv

by Lesia Shymko

TORONTO - The Toronto-based Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund (CCCF) has sent a sophisticated blood-scanning machine to the Ukrainian city of Lviv in an attempt to alleviate the growing number of AIDS cases in Ukraine.

The high-tech machine, known as the Multiskan PLUS ELISA Reader, was developed by a company in Helsinki, Finland, and was obtained through ADI Diagnostics, a Canadian company specializing in medical technology. The Multiskan Reader, valued at over $12,000, is capable of carrying out a combination of tests which determine the presence of more than one virus in blood. The unit will be able to scan blood for the presence of HIV 1, HIV 2, Hepatitis B and C as well as other viruses.

The decision to send the Multiskan Reader to Lviv was made by the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund following an urgent request from both the main blood bank in the Lviv Oblast and the Lviv Oblast government.

According to Dr. Jaroslaw Shudrak, chairman of the CCCF, the Uniskan unit which had been in use up until now was not only technologically outdated but its operational life was on the verge of expiry and, therefore, posed a dangerous risk to the safety of the region's blood supply.

The Multiskan Reader sent by the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund weighs only 11 kilograms and represents some of the most advanced technology in its class. Since the spread of contaminated blood is a major factor contributing to the increased incidence of AIDS, especially among children, use of the Multiskan Reader is expected to sharply curb the number of AIDS cases in Ukraine.

The Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund hopes to be able to send another Multiskan PLUS ELISA Reader to Ukraine in the near future.