MDI Hospital announced today that the organization has acquired a new advanced Cepheid GeneXpert point-of-care testing system that can detect the new coronavirus and many other infectious diseases in approximately 45 minutes or less. This system is now on-site and being prepared for service.
“We are profoundly grateful for the incredible generosity of an anonymous family, who reached out to us to provide our community with this remarkable technology at such a critical time,” said MDI Hospital President/CEO Arthur J. Blank. “In these unprecedented times, access to advanced rapid testing is invaluable, and can only be measured in lives saved as well as the safety of our health care professionals and community.
The rapid detection time made possible by the advanced technology allows hospital clinicians to more effectively diagnose, treat and target COVID-19 infections which can help slow the spread of the disease. Cepheid recently received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its rapid molecular diagnostic test for the new coronavirus. Commenting on the development, Cepheid president Warren Kocmond said: “Our automated systems do not require users to have specialty training to perform testing. They are capable of running 24/7, with many systems already doing so today.” To date, the company has more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems worldwide and approximately 5,000 GeneXpert Systems in the US that are capable of point-of-care testing and suitable for hospital use.
For more information about Cepheid and their GeneXpert Systems, visit their website at cepheid.com.
For more information about the hospital’s coronavirus preparedness efforts, visit their website at mdihospital.org.
