Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, a leading multinational chain of diagnostic centres, has launched India’s first single test for seven diseases which cause fever. The Multiplex PCR test helps diagnose seven common diseases causing fevers Malaria, Dengue, Typhoid, Leptospirosis, Chikungunya, West Nile Fever and Rickettsia. The test is seen to save  cost and provide doctors to help faster diagnosis.

The Multiple PCR is done in real-time which extract nucleic acid of pathogens from whole blood. With a sensitivity and specificity of a 100 per cent , the test looks to provide a breather in terms of diagnosis to a country where according to certain estimates, 80 per cent of all illnesses are water-related.

According to Dr. Nilesh Shah, Group president scientific service & operation, SBU Head West India, Metropolis Healthcare the effort is  eliminate infectious diseases.  The test ensures earliest possible detection compared to all the conventional tests available.. Multiplex PCR test is expected to significantly facilitate fever screening and therefore speed up identification of patients suffering from various symptoms of infectious disease.

Patients suffering from high fever are often put through a battery of tests to detect the cause of fever, leading to a delay in treatment. In a sphere as critical as healthcare, time thus becomes of prime importance, and this is the lacunae that Metropolis Healthcare looks to fill, in its efforts to make diagnostic dilemma obsolete.

Metropolis undertakes over 15 million tests a year, catering to over 10,000 labs, hospitals nursing homes and  two lakh consultants. It is the only multinational chain of diagnostic centres with presence in UAE, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius and Ghana. Its network includes 105 laboratories across India with over 700 collection centres, processing over 4500 varieties of tests and supported a team of over  3000 personnel.