A donation of Roche Ltd to the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banjaluka

Company Roche Ltd donated financial assets amounted to BAM 200.000 for the needs of the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banjaluka. Owing to the support of this company, device Ventana BenchMark GX was procured and installed in the Institute of Pathology. Donation of the device represents a step forward towards increasing the efficiency of the laboratory and towards more effective work.

The donation also includes necessary reagents and antibodies for assessment of HER 2 status of people suffering from breast cancer and gastric carcinoma. There is also an ongoing training for the employees of the Institute of Pathology in relation to the use of this device.

Professor Mirko Stanetic MD, PhD, said: ”It is our pleasure to promote this activity, because we want to demonstrate the significance of timely, faster and high-quality diagnosis of disorders in our patients. This is not the first time that company Roche Ltd donates medical equipment to the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banjaluka. Two years ago, this company donated highly sophisticated device Cobas® 4800 and the Laboratory for molecular diagnostics began to operate. In July 2014, on the same device, BRAF gene mutation testing started to be conducted in patients suffering from metastatic melanoma from the entire B&H. Pharmaceutical Company ROCHE also provides necessary tests for the above- mentioned types of analyses. By introducing the new methods in the field of molecular diagnostics, the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banjaluka became the first institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for performing this type of testing.”

Head of the Institute of Pathology, Primarius Svetlana Tomasevic – Pavlovic MD said: “There is no need for special emphasizing of the importance of the Institute of Pathology, since it performs immunohistochemical analyses and gene analyses of various tumours. On an annual basis, in relation to the breast tumours solely, this Institute performs 500 analyses of HER 2 receptors and up to 80 analyses of HER 2 gene amplification. I would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to Roche Company on behalf of the employees of the Institute of Pathology.”

Adnan Filipovic MD, a director of pharmaceutical company Roche Ltd, said: „As a leading pharmaceutical company, Roche has a pioneer role in improvement of health care. We consider that the use of donated Ventana BenchMark GX system in the Institute of Pathology of the University Hospital Clinical Centre Banjaluka will lead to improvement of diagnostics for people suffering from breast cancer to a great extent.

Assistant Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Republic of Srpska, Milan Latinovic MD, who attended the event said: “The device that will provide faster, high-quality and more reliable diagnostic results will be of great importance for our patients in fighting against sinister diseases.”