Diagnostic industry needs a regulatory body

EHM News Bureau - Mumbai

There is a big difference in functioning of laboratories in the US and in India, said Dr Sushil Shah, Chairman, Metropolis Health Services Pvt Ltd, while speaking at the Diagnostic Management Conclave organised by Pinnacle Healthcare in Mumbai last month.

“For instance, when I visited Stanford Hospital in the US which is a 2000 bed hospital, I was surprised to see that it was sending alpha-protein samples to a referral lab as it was more economically viable and practical. But in India its not so. Here, small labs, big labs, every lab performs an array of tests. Though it’s beneficial to the patient, the profit gets entangled. Tie-up between a pathology and radiology group is a good business venture and is worthwhile a try,” he elaborated. Speaking on challenges to medical labs in providing quality laboratory services, Dr A S Kanagasabapathy, consultant biochemist, Kamineni Hospitals, Hyderabad said, “To achieve total quality management, quality control is essential and is the foundation. Every lab should have effective internal quality control and participate in external quality assessment. The lab should also know about biological variation.”

“Even after 30 years of the diagnostic industry, a hoard of issues remain unsolved. For instance, there is no regulatory body to check the quality of the reagents and kits that come from abroad. We should make a proposal to the government to have standardised kits,” he added.

K Ravi, MD, Diagnostic Management Conclave delivering the welcome note. Sitting from left: Dr Sushil Shah, Chairman, Metropolis, Dr Mrudula Phadke, Hon Vice Chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Janak Singh Bajwa, Group Director, SRL Ranbaxy Ltd and Brig Joe Curian, CEO of Raheja Hospital

A concern echoed by Dr Shah too. “All kits should be evaluated. But since evaluation from the government takes a long time, there should be a private national body of pathologists in the country on the lines of the US College of Pathologists to do the evaluation,” said Dr Shah. He urged APPI Hon Secretary General to take the lead for forming an evaluating body of pathologists.

Congratulating Pinnacle Healthcare for holding the conference, Dr Shah said, “Diagnostic Management Conclave is first of its kind in India as it has got all pathological labs together on one platform.”

Dr Mrudula Phadke, Hon Vice Chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences was the guest of honour. Citing research as the most important avenue, Dr Phadke said that it would pave the way for the diagnostic industry in the future.

On a session on ‘Standards and Accreditation’, Dr MZ Baig, Secretary, Association of the Hospital and Practicing Biochemists and Medical Technologists-Mumbai said, “NABL should relax certain criteria as some of its requirement for accreditation are stringent.”

However, Dr Meenachiselvan, Accreditation Officer, NABL, New Delhi, differed. His presentation ‘Accreditation the way forward’ enlightened the delegates on NABL’s technical requirements, criteria and procedure for accreditation of labs.

Dr NA Shahbazker of Shahbazker Diagnostic Centre, Mumbai spoke on ‘The agony and ecstacy of accreditation’. He emphasised that NABL’s policies needed clarity and uniformity. He suggested that NABL hold sessions with IMA, ministeries and use mass media to educate and spread awareness about itself.

Other sessions of the conference were on infection control and safety management, marketing and management, back to future, emerging lab scenario where reputed names such as Janak Singh Bajwa, Director, SRL Ranbaxy; Dr Arvind Lal of Lal PathLabs; Dr Ajita Mehta of Hinduja Hospital and Dr Rohini Kelkar of Tata Memorial spoke. The conference was attended by 400 delegates.