India is one of the top ten countries in the world having large number of people with diabetes and there is tremendous scope to improve the method of glycohemoglobin tests, said experts at a seminar organised recently by Bio-Rad Laboratories on Diabetes Management and HbA1c testing.

They pointed out that HbA1c test is a special test to reflect the level of glucose control in the blood over the previous 2-3 months and it can provide a reliable reflection of long-term blood glucose control. The HbA1 value test can predict the patient's risk for diabetes complication. Larger the HbA1c value in patients, higher will be the risk of developing eye problems, kidney problems, and nerve related disorders. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the top ten countries with diabetes among its population are India, China, USA, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Brazil, Italy and Bangladesh, they noted.

P D Sawant, chief of the quality of Wellspring Pathlab Diagnostic said, "While changing the methods for glycohemoglobin test by individual laboratories the reports will differ from each other on account of manual operations. All labs in India are not fully equipped and automatic. The manual operations may give different results for a same test."

Eminent experts like Dr H B Chandalia, diabetes director, Endocrine Nutrition Management and Research centre of Mumbai, Dr P D Sawant, chief of the quality of Wellspring Pathlab Diagnostic, a venture of Nicholas Piramal, Mumbai and H M. Wiedmeyer, data manager of National Glyohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) spoke at the seminar.