MANDEVILLE, Manchester — A multimillion-dollar histopathology lab built as a partnership project involving the Lions Club and the Government was on Thursday handed over to the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA).

However, the eight-room facility and storage unit, built at a cost of $83 million, is in need of equipment.

Located on state-owned property adjacent to Mandeville Regional Hospital, the launch of the project to build the lab — started by the Lions Club of Mandeville just over three years ago — gained the support of the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, Education (CHASE) Fund which donated $52 million towards the lab.

Efforts by the Jamaica Observer to get a comment from health officials, including Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, as to when the lab will be outfitted were unsuccessful.

However, Tufton, in a virtual presentation, indicated that it should be opened in 2021.

“I look forward to the grand opening in the new year, as we pursue efforts to ensure the best possible health outcomes for all users of the public health system in the south, as elsewhere on the island,” he said.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony, president of the Lions Club of Mandeville Wendy Coley-Haynes described the building of the lab as an “enormous task”.

“…We embarked on an ambitious journey when the Lions Club of Mandeville decided to take on the enormous task of building this pathology lab for Manchester, and by extension the central region of Jamaica,” she said.

“We had no real knowledge of the enormity of the undertaking, no idea of the costs, no idea of what building a histopathology lab really meant and, more importantly, no money, but we had the firm conviction that the lab was necessary and urgent,” she added.

Lions Club fund-raising events, including ‘Men Who Cook’ and ‘Medics in Concert’, alongside support from sponsors, contributed significantly to the project.

Chief executive officer of the CHASE Fund Wilford Heaven said a storage unit was constructed.

“[SRHA] came to us in 2018 seeking assistance with this project. Of course, it was started by the Lions Club and they had put in a lot of effort and a lot of funding into this project. We contributed in total to this project $52 million. We constructed a storage unit to accommodate surgical specimens, tissue blocks and slides, and reagents,” he said.

However, the facility is not yet ready to take specimens.

Regional pathologist Dr Colette Hall commended the public-private partnership to build the lab and said the Ministry of Health will continue to support the lab.

“… Even though this building has been handed over today. The [ministry] have committed to and have budgeted for provision of all the equipment with maintenance contracts for the laboratory,” she said.