WHEN Covid reached Australian shores, it was local company Ampcontrol at the coal face, engineering and manufacturing the ventilators that our community needed.

Now the local company is strengthening its long term community support of Port Stephens Koala Hospital with the purchase of critical clinical equipment to treat, rehabilitate and protect endangered koalas across the Hunter and Mid North Coast region of NSW.

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The game-changing veterinary diagnostic laboratory equipment includes a Catalyst One Chemistry Analyser with VetLab Station Computer vital to conducting an accurate and comprehensive analysis of organ function and a ProCyte DX Haematology Analyser vital to conducting complete blood counts for screening, presurgical testing and general check-ups.

Ampcontrol Managing Director and CEO Rod Henderson described to News Of The Area the impact the new equipment will have on koala populations now and into the future.

“The Port Stephens Koala Hospital has been a presence in the Hunter community for 35 years and as long-standing supporters of the organisation, we are thrilled to be able to provide game-changing equipment.”

“To see Ampcontrol providing a real-world solution that is making a difference now, whilst enabling the local hospital to advance and continue its work into the future, is incredibly rewarding,” Mr Henderson continued.

Conditions such as dehydration, kidney failure and chlamydia, which is considered a major driver behind the rapid decrease in koala numbers, can now be diagnosed in under 30 minutes.

Through immediate and accurate diagnosis hospital staff and volunteers can treat injured and ill koalas quicker, ensuring a higher chance of being able to release them to the wild and the breeding pool in the future.

Port Stephens Koala Hospital President Ron Land was effusive in his appreciation of the continuing support from Ampcontrol, commenting that the donation enabled the purchase of state-of-the-art blood and organ specimen analysers which have already shown to be instrumental in saving koala lives.

“Port Stephens Koala Hospital is extremely proud of its relationship with one of the Hunter Region’s most respected firms and looks forward to continuing to work with Ampcontrol in the fight to save one of the last surviving colonies of koalas in NSW” added Mr Land.

Before the arrival of the equipment, valued at over $70,000, the veterinary team at Port Stephens Koala Hospital would be faced with waiting up to two weeks to receive lab results from external providers, which significantly impacted survival rates along with repeated and longer sedation of the koalas to obtain samples.

Formed in 1987, the Port Stephens Koala Hospital aims to provide the world best practice level of care to sick, injured and orphaned koalas to give them the best opportunity to be returned to the wild, while supporting research and collaboration to preserve their habitat to ensure generations to come will continue to enjoy seeing these wonderful creatures in their natural habitat.

By Marian SAMPSON