Centro de Salud México España Centro de Salud San Francisco Culhuacán Mexico City, Mexico

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1 Centro de Salud México España Centro de Salud San Francisco Culhuacán Mexico City, Mexico

2 Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world and home to over 21 million people. The population is culturally diverse and many social backgrounds are represented. In order to help people with little or no income to receive basic healthcare in the form of diagnosis, monitoring and treatment, as well as general health service, the Mexican Government has set up a network of health centers across the country. A closer look at two of these centers based in Mexico City reveals that, with the help of Roche and the cobas c 111 analyzer, the Government s investment is starting to make a real difference.

3 Centro de Salud México España, Mexico City Public Health Center Laboratory 146,000 Clinical Chemistry results per year Centro de Salud San Francisco Culhuacán, Mexico City Public Health Center Laboratory 146,000 Clinical Chemistry results per year

4 High quality diagnostics bring positive change In 2007, the Mexican Government took action to help some of the most vulnerable people that were living on low incomes with no social security benefit. The idea was to provide accessible service in a network of health centers, and to ensure each one was equipped with high quality diagnostics tools in the form of the cobas c 111 analyzer. By introducing the latest technology and moving away from manual and semi-automated testing, it was hoped that doctors in these health centers would receive more timely and accurate results. This would in turn enable them to improve the treatment for chronic diseases like obesity that they provide to their patients. Today almost every third health center across Mexico City uses the cobas c 111 analyzer, all providing vital healthcare services to local patients. A closer look at two of these the Centro de Salud San Francisco Culhuacán and the Centro de Salud México España shows how the Mexican Government s program is starting to take effect. Both the Centro de Salud Francisco Culhuacán and the Centro de Salud México España provide diabetes and cardiac monitoring in addition to routine diagnosis for an average of 50 patients per day. The key for both laboratories is to be able to increase their capacity without affecting the standard of service they can provide to doctors. Miss Columba Cruz González, Laboratory Manager at Centro de Salud México España, explains: The principal challenge is to increase the number of people we can treat, particularly children, considering the problem we have with child obesity. It s about speed too, and increasing the flow of patients through the health center. With the cobas c 111 analyzer, they ve started to meet these challenges head on.

5 Previously we spent a lot of time with preparation but now all we have to do in the morning is calibrate the analyzer, verify that it s working okay and then put in the samples. We throw less material away and have a much more efficient start to the day.

6 Timely diagnosis the key to preventing secondary diseases According to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mexico has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, second only to the United States of America. As José Olvera, Laboratory Manager at Centro de Salud San Francisco Culhuacán explains, primary care health centers have a key role to play in controlling the rise in conditions like obesity and associated secondary diseases - across the general population: We work with low income patients, those without any other type of social security. Our doctors do their best to work with these patients and make a timely diagnosis of primary illnesses like diabetes or obesity as well as cardiovascular and kidney problems. With a mix of general practitioners and specialized consultants, we have to quickly spot and prevent diseases that are starting to affect the entire population.

7 It s no longer a case of waiting for all of our samples to be ready before we begin working. With the cobas c 111 analyzer we can feed samples in as soon as they arrive. It s a continuous process that s much more convenient when planning workloads for our technicians.

8 Confidence in results Quality control is vital to maintain the efficient running of any laboratory, and the primary healthcare centers in Mexico are no exception. Laboratories are subject to rigorous checks with external national quality control once a month a process that José Olvera is more than comfortable with: Every month we are evaluated by an external laboratory and since we started using the cobas c 111 analyzer we have performed better than ever. I think a large part of this is because everything comes from the same manufacturer. It means there is consistency and reliability at every stage of the process, pre-, during and post-analysis. This has given us a reputation for quality and means that we now process samples for seven other health centers, not just our own. Doctors can come to us with confidence in the reagents we use and the results we provide. The benefits of working with Roche do not just come from the innovation and quality of its analyzers. They start from the moment of installation as Mr. Olvera can testify: Roche has been there for us from the very beginning. It doesn t take long to get up to speed with everything and the user interface is easy to understand. In a short period of time we knew exactly what we were doing. This support doesn t stop once the analyzer has been installed. Mr. Olvera and his team have also been able to take advantage of Roche s worldwide service department: Roche clearly understands its equipment and this gives us the confidence that we ll receive a positive response whatever the question.

9 Using the cobas c 111 analyzer makes us more confident, saves us time and is proof that we are moving forward as a laboratory.

10 Changing lives with the cobas c 111 analyzer Having seen the improvements in efficiency, precision and speed of results, Mr. Olvera is already making plans for the future: We have a long way to go but my mission is to bring complete automation to the laboratory. I m looking forward to working with Roche to help automate a number of other sections in the lab as soon as possible. Miss González is equally as ambitious: I want to make the clinical chemistry section the best it can be, and to become the benchmark for all other sections of the lab. I want to help treat more patients. Instead of just diagnosing sick people, we need to be in a position where we are helping people monitor their disease, showing them that their health is improving thanks to changes they have made to their lifestyle. This ambition and determination to make a difference is perhaps one of the most important benefits to come from the introduction of the cobas c 111 analyzer and, along with further help from Roche, could be the key to long term improvement in the health of people across Mexico.

11 Centro de Salud México España Centro de Salud San Francisco Culhuacán Mexico City, Mexico

12 COBAS, COBAS C and LIFE NEEDS ANSWERS are trademarks of Roche Roche Roche Diagnostics International Ltd CH-6343 Rotkreuz Switzerland