The demand for lab equipment in South Africa has experienced dramatic growth. More significantly, it is not just the overall volume of that demand that has grown, and the nature of the apparatus and the applications for which it is required have also undergone a vast transformation. Many of the world’s leader in the field have been developing faster and more accurate diagnostic and analytical procedures and in some cases simplifying the procedures to the point where, for instance, a patient who, in the past would have been required to visit a clinic for such purpose, may now undertake his or her own blood or urine testing with confidence.

Even in the formal atmosphere of a routine pathology department many of the once labour intensive procedures used in chemical analysis or in bacteriological and haematological examinations have now been automated with sophisticated lab equipment that saves time and costs while simultaneously improving daily productivity and eliminating much of the potential for human error.

Of course, though the demand for simpler items such as test tubes, microscope slides, Petri dishes, measuring cylinders and flasks has tended to decline with the steady advances in technology, it has not disappeared and must continue to remain a basic offering among the many more advanced items offered by local suppliers such as IEPSA if aspiring to provide a one-stop service.

Technical demands in our country, like those of most others, are changing constantly, whether as the direct result of advances made locally or internationally. Changes in legislation may also influence demands as demonstrated by the changes in labelling regulations tabled in 2010 that sparked a need by the food and beverage processing industry for more advanced lab equipment.

The field, whose needs have changed most dramatically, however, is undoubtedly that of medicine or, more specifically, the many new disciplines to which it has given birth in recent years. We are living in in an age that is marked by unprecedented progress in many areas that were previously deemed to be the province of science fiction. Procedures such as transplant surgery, gene therapy, stem cell research, in vitro fertilisation and tissue banking to name just a few, are moving steadily away from the realms of the researchers and into the domain of the clinicians – a migration that has also fuelled the demand for supporting technologies such as cryopreservation and, with it, a need for the storage and transport flasks, dispensers, freezer cabinets and monitoring devices that comprise this new breed of lab equipment.

IEPSA opened in 1980 to source and distribute specialised diagnostic products to laboratories in South Africa. Like the science we serve, we have also developed and the company is now positioned to service the needs of most establishments where personnel are engaged in either routine analysis or research within the biomedical arena or in similar fields. For the biochemist, for instance, we offer items such as glucometers and bilirubinometers as well as sensitive assay kits for detection of the specific enzymes associated with various disease processes. Automatic plating facilities for microbial counting and antimicrobial sensitivity testing and for creating the differing atmospheric condition for the cultivation of various bacterial species are just a few of the vast array of lab equipment supplied by IEPSA.

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