The Science department at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), in Manchester, received a major boost recently with a donation of US$40,000 (J$280,000) from Versacare Incorporated.

The money was used to purchase equipment. Associate Professor at NCU's College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Dr Samson Omoregie, said the equipment would help in dealing with many medical problems and add to the institution's research capability.

Well needed

"Equipment acquisition will help a lot to garner more interest from incoming students in this area of science," he said. "This is what pushes a university forward - the ability to conduct research that will impact the lives of people. And this country needs a lot of research to help in improving the lives of the common man."

Among the equipment acquired are nine microscopes, four centrifuges, three blood cell counters and four electrophoresis and two DNA Restriction Analysis Kits.

Versacare Incorporated was set up by Seventh-day Adventist lay persons to serve humanity through different social outreach programmes.