Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 11: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) has sought a law to regulate the functioning and setting up of private laboratories in Jammu and Kashmir.
A DAK spokesman in a statement said that the law will ensure quality and accuracy of tests in privately run medical labs.
DAK President, Dr Nisar ul Hassan said private labs in J&K are unregulated and in absence of regulations, majority of medical labs issue wrong test results that is putting health and lives of patients at risk.
He said most of the medical decisions which are based on lab tests and issuance of inaccurate reports is causing confusion among medical practitioners and sufferings to patients.
“The faulty tests can lead to misdiagnosis, wrong treatment and can unnecessarily cause patients to undergo uncomfortable and even dangerous procedures,” he said.
Dr Nisar said a wrong sugar report can prove fatal to a diabetic and an incorrect cholesterol test can subject a patient to unnecessary side effects of lipid lowering agent.
“Private labs lack quality equipment and trained staff. Even the reagents and chemicals used for tests are not of standard quality. With no legal provisions, labs find themselves answerable to none for their negligence and wrong-doing,” he said.
Dr Nisar said the centre has enacted the “Clinical Establishment Act” in 2010 to bring under its purview the diagnostic industry, but this has not been adopted in the valley.
“While National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories has been established to ensure quality in labs, but in Jammu and Kashmir they operate like mom-and-pop shops in the absence of any binding regulatory norm,” he added.
He further added that despite lack of infrastructural facilities and qualified personnel, private labs have been given license endangering the safety of patients.
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