Patho labs put people in pathetic state

ANKIT ADHIKARI

KATHMANDU, JUL 24

Geeta Tamang of Gwarko in the Capital got a shock of her life when one pathology lab tested her positive for uric acid while another one gave her a clean bill of health.

With hundreds of private health laboratories mushrooming across the country, none of the government bodies has rules and regulations that can effectively monitor the quality of health facilities these labs provide and that can curb the practice of opening new labs.

“You can set up a lab of your own in no time and it is hassle-free,” Bhup Raj Rai, the chief of the training, supervision and monitoring department of the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), told the Post.

“You neither have to register your lab nor are you obliged to clarify the quality of facilities that you will provide,” he added.

MoHP Spokesperson Dr. Laxmi Raj Pathak said the ministry has no rule to monitor the labs. “We have only been supervising hospitals with more than 15 beds,” he said.

According to Pathak, the ministry, however, registers “special labs” that are set up to test the health of those going for foreign employment. “There are 153 such labs,” he added.

As the ministry claims to monitor only hospitals and “special labs”, laboratories where the common people go for tests have been grossly neglected.

The absence of regulations gives these labs the liberty to act on their own and sometimes irresponsibly.

“As per the doctor’s advise, I had my urine tested in one of the labs. It revealed that I was suffering from uric acid,” Geeta Tamang (name changed), told the Post. “The doctor had doubts and he suggested I have the test in another lab. This time the result was negative.”

“The government doesn’t care about it, so why would we get involved in official processes like registration and renewal?” a lab-proprietor at Baneshwor told the Post, requesting anonymity.

The Medical Lab Association Nepal (MELAN) confirms there are no “provisions of registration and membership.” 

“However, we have planned to start regular monitoring with the government’s help,” said MELAN Secretary Dev Raj Gautam. Currently, those who find it necessary operate their labs after registring them either with the Office of the Company Registrar (OCR) or the Small and Cottage Industries Development Centre (SCIDC) under the Ministry of Industry (MoI) and pay taxes.

The number of registered labs is negligible, said OCR and SCIDC. The number of labs in the country is not known as both these government bodies don’t have a  record-keeping system. “We can’t monitor them as we are not health experts,” said Ishwari Prasad Sharma, Section Officer at the Department of Registration, SCIDC.


Published in The Kathmandu Post -- July 25