District Laboratory Coordinator (OR Tambo) at TB HIV Care

Purpose of the position:

• The District Laboratory Coordinator will provide district laboratory support to address bottlenecks and improve laboratory service utilisation. Act as a district point of contact for laboratory activities working in liaison with the department of health focal person and HAST manager. Support will include largely CLI activities through facility support employing continuous quality improvement approach

Minimum Requirements    

• Qualified as a Medical Technologist
• Must have a Bachelor’s degree or Diploma in Health Science or Medical field
• Minimum of 5-7 years’ experience in the field and 3 years managerial and supervisory experience
• Knowledge of the laboratory data systems and HIV/TB programmes including epidemiological background
• Excellent relationship-building skills and stakeholder development experience
• Valid driver’s licence and be willing to travel long distances weekly.
• Clear criminal record
• This position requires dedicated availability to deal with project priorities, which is not limited to working hours

Duties and Responsibilities    

• Support implementation and understanding of the contents of the PHC Laboratory Handbooks to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of their roles at facility level
• Support sub-district and facility management teams to meet at least 6 monthly with local laboratory services (district health team & regional laboratory) to address bottlenecks in processing specimens and results (i.e., turnaround time or TAT) and improve laboratory service utilisation
• Provide technical support for stakeholder forums including reporting and feedback sessions
• Strengthen facility laboratory activities to apply SOPs: infection control; phlebotomy; recording & storage of samples; management of laboratory results containing and disposing of hazardous waste
• Development of a district laboratory support operational plan working closely with the DoH HAST Manager and District Laboratory Advisor

Support implementation of the district laboratory, including but not limited to:

• Integration of district laboratory support with all project stakeholders;
• Implementation of systems, tools and procedures to facilitate the district laboratory support component of the project;
• Training, mentoring and support of the district team as defined by the project scope;
• Ensuring appropriate progress with regards to the laboratory support component in the district;
• Ensuring appropriate quality of laboratory support in the district and;
• Development and implementation of corrective action, in cooperation with the project team
• Track / monitor CLI related activities and information and prepare / present status reports for the C&T Regional Manager
• Track and review facility reports with development and implementation of corrective action/ continuous quality improvement (CQI)
• Provide technical support for stakeholder forums including all reporting and feedback

Skills and Competencies    

• Excellent communication skills
• Attention to detail
• Computer literacy and IT skills
• Problem-solving
• Stakeholder management
• Excellent organisational and administration skills
• Reporting and statistics