P.R. Pathology invests $7.5M in new 50K square-foot, state-of-the-art lab
Puerto Rico Pathology, which has been serving the island for 65 years, has invested $7.5 million in a new state-of-the-art, 50,000 square-foot lab to continue offering services on the island and the Caribbean.
In an interview on the “En Una Hora” program on 11Q 1140 AM, in which News is my Business participates, Víctor Carlo, a member of the board, said the new facility in Hato Rey will expand and consolidate its services once offered from a smaller location on Loíza Street in Santurce.
Puerto Rico Pathology is run by 11 physicians and another 50 staff members who study the causes and effects of disease or injury by processing tests on patients to identify conditions.
As part of its investment, the company dedicated about $500,000 in equipment for the receipt, manipulation, microscopic examination, storage and disposal of pathological specimens that place the institution at the forefront of physical and chemical safety of the technical staff that performs the tests, he said.
“Pathology’s role has expanded exponentially in recent years. Before pathologists were limited to diagnosing cancer and today, in our role in patient healthcare, we treat all of the diagnosis on a case-by-case basis,” Carlo said during the interview.
The equipment purchased were manufactured by specialized makers in Europe and meet the standards of exposure to substances in force in the European Union, higher than those in the United States, he said.
The new facility also houses a digital and wireless network to provide efficient connections, energy efficiency systems to ensure uninterrupted operations, a sweeping surveillance system and a modern system of automated distribution of organic solvents and collection of biomedical and chemical liquid wastes through a dedicated piping system, with pumps, valves and storage tanks outside the operational areas.
“Puerto Rico Pathology is the only pathology laboratory in Puerto with such a system,” said Carlo.
In the short-term, Puerto Rico Pathology expects to expand its gastrointestinal, breast and pediatric pathology services, while on the medium, and long-term it will continue the expansion of traditional areas, and the growth of new areas in immunopathology, hematopathology, molecular pathology and clinical laboratory.
Puerto Rico Pathology offers services to more than 400 medical offices, hospital institutions and ambulatory surgery centers in Puerto Rico and the British and American Virgin Islands. This is part of the company’s incursion in medical tourism, which Carlo identified as an area of opportunity to continue expanding its services.
