The Quality Council of India (QCI), the apex body responsible to usher in quality in the healthcare sector, has embarked upon the massive task of getting over one lakh diagnostic labs registered and quality control norms compliant to ensure better standards of lab tests.
With the comprehensive legislation making the registration of all labs compulsory at the national-level still pending before the Parliament, the QCI is in the process of entering into agreements with the State Governments to begin the process.
"We are in talks with many State governments to launch the registration procedures through Assembly legislations. Already we have tied up with Madhya Pradesh to begin with. Talks are on with other States like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala where the Assemblies have passed similar laws,'' QCI advisor Dr T Venkatesh told Pharmabiz.
He said the QCI was first focussing on creating awareness among the customers and professionals about the need for quality control, accreditation and registration in the highly competitive sector. ``We like to see the labs themselves come forward and make self-declarations as registered and quality-driven centres through own initiatives,'' he said.
Dr Venkatesh admitted that the task would be highly tough as most of the labs were in the unorganised sector. He hoped that the registration would be completed in a couple of years once picked up momentum.
He pointed out that the responses from the States were encouraging and many States were keen to see the labs registered. Six medical college labs in Gujarat were among those who came forward to introduce quality control norms.
The QCI had prepared and released comprehensive norms for registration of labs in January this year itself. However, the central legislation of making the registration mandatory was under the process as the concerned bill - Clinical Establishments Bill-was before the Parliament.
The norms released by the QCI specify about all required facilities, quality management, personnel management, equipments and instruments, procurement of supplies, process control, lab space and quality assurance in detail.
"The laboratory shall have all the equipment required to provide the services being offered. The equipment shall be operated only by authorised personnel,'' the set of norms said.
It is felt that most of the labs, especially the small units, in the country run in highly deplorable conditions with no quality equipment and sufficient skilled personnel and the QCI itself have received a lots of complaints with regard to the varied differences in test results.