Pap smear results delay
Published:Monday | April 21, 2025 | 12:10 PMCorey Robinson/Senior Staff Reporter
It could take up to three months for the results of a basic Pap smear examination to be returned to patients due to a chronic shortness of local cytologists in a profession that is arguably losing steam among tertiary students regionally and internationally.
It is among the major concerns of the Caribbean Association of Medical Technologists (CASMET), as it kicked off its celebration of Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, during a special church service at Boulevard Baptist in St Andrew.
CASMET represents more than 500 medical lab workers locally.
Chairperson Kameaka Duncan Pottinger said that, unlike two decades ago, there seems to be a diminishing interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects, under which medical laboratory studies fall.
A cytologist is a health worker who studies cells to diagnose diseases, particularly cancer and other cell abnormalities. But with no more than 20 cytologists serving 14 parishes, Duncan Pottinger said a turnaround time of two weeks for results has morphed into several months.
“Cytologists deal with all of the Pap smears that are done. And the fewer people that you have to read the Pap smears, the longer the Pap smear takes,” said Duncan Pottinger. “That Pap smear will take up to three months for you to get the results, and this is coming from a turnaround time of two weeks. This is primarily because of the limited number of cytologists.”
“Cervical cancer is quite treatable, but you have to catch it early. So, if we don’t have enough cytologists to do those screenings that are needed, and enough lab professionals, then you won’t have that diagnosis happening early,” she noted, underscoring the psychological and physical pain suffered by patients forced to wait months for their results.
Duncan Pottinger reiterated the country’s dependence on medical laboratory professionals during COVID-19, and said she feared some skills within medical laboratories locally will diminish if there are no new students.
Jamaica, she explained, is the only country regionally with two universities that offer medical laboratory training. It is a four-year course, with an added year of internship for students. She described the field as a veritable route for gifted medical science students who might not necessarily want to become doctors or nurses.
Live with God
Meanwhile, Reverend Devon Dick, who leads Boulevard Baptist Church, urged people, while giving his Easter Sunday sermon, to live with God in the present, especially in times of death and bereavement.
Dick said he was confident the country can see lower homicide numbers if more Jamaicans start living with God in the present, rather than wait for his grand coming in the rapture.
“With Christ we can face tomorrow; the uncertainties, the anxieties that we have, the tariff and trade wars, whether it is the possibility of inflation. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow,” he charged, adding that it was the onus of religious leaders to read, interpret, and convey accurately the doctrines of the Bible.
“We believe that the trend that has started with the reduction of murders and homicides can continue because the Lord is here to help us,” he charged, after wrapping up a sermon who many in the congregation said was filled with inspiration.