The Health Department is mulling over a proposal by the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) that the latter will help enhance molecular diagnostic facilities in the State by setting up advanced clinical research labs in all districts, adjacent to district, taluk, or medical college hospitals (MCH).
Following a meeting convened by the Chief Minister, in which officials of both the Health Services and the RGCB participated, it has been decided that RGCB will set up advanced diagnostic facilities at three regional sites in the State in the initial phase. The sites will be identified by the Health Department.
Senior RGCB officials said they could provide advanced diagnostic facilities in immunology, biochemistry, microbiology, clinical pathology, and advanced molecular diagnostics for the entire State at nominal costs for the public if the government was willing to provide 5,000 sq ft of space for setting up the lab.
Space requirement“We only need the Health Department to find us the space. We will provide the lab equipment, automated analysers, uninterrupted supply of lab reagents, and trained lab technicians so that all advanced diagnostic facilities are offered round-the-clock. We can provide tests at CGHS rates or less for the general public, while it will be totally free for patients in the below poverty line (BPL) category,” a senior RGCB official said.
The Health Services’ response to the proposal has been less than lukewarm. A Health official said they hardly had any space to spare in their district hospitals.
It remains a fact that diagnostic facilities are wanting in most government hospitals, including medical college hospitals and the State has been depending on labs outside Kerala for all advanced diagnostic tests such as PCR, when it had to deal with H1N1 or MERS testing. The MCH, Thiruvananthapuram, depends on the Advanced Clinical Lab run by the Kerala Health Research and Welfare Society, which outsources it to the RGCB.
RGCB has been offering PCR tests for Rs.900, while it costs anywhere upwards of Rs.3,000 in any private lab.
The only facility in the Health Department which currently has the capability to do advanced diagnostic facilities is the State Public Health Laboratory in the capital, which has just begun doing virological assays as well as various diagnostic tests for neonatal meningitis, tuberculosis, viral encephalitis, and the like.
