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HEALTH: DIAGNOSTIC KITS
Quality Products
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"It is too
little too late. The kits should have been developed 15 years ago."
A. Lal, CEO, Dr Lal's Path Labs
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"The patient
provides only one sample and in a hospital there is no room for
error."
V.K. Vinayak, adviser, DBT
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The impact, in terms
of quality, is already discernible. "Indian diagnostics kits are
as good as imported ones," says R.N. Makroo, specialist in the area
and head of the blood bank at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi.
"Earlier, the kits could not pick up hepatitis till the 25th week
of infection, but now it only takes six weeks," says Dr Anupam Sibal,
Abhay's physician and consultant paediatrician at Apollo.
The Indian kits are also cheaper than the imported
ones. XCyton's HepC costs Rs 40 per test. Mitra's HIV tests cost approximately
Rs 700 compared to over Rs 1,500 with an imported kit. The third important
factor, says Makroo, is that the indigenous kits are geared for Indian
conditions. While imported kits may not perform their best after being
exposed to high temperature and need special storage and handling, the
desi kits are designed keeping these facts in mind.
No wonder then that the manufacturers display
unbridled optimism. Says Kumar: "India conducts about 4.5 million
tests for hepatitis C every year and 3.5 million blood transfusions. At
Rs 40 per test, that works to a Rs 12-16 crore market." And the mathematics
does not have to be limited to India, as most surrounding regions have
similar malaises. "We would like to eventually expand to SAARC countries,
China and, perhaps, Africa and South America," says Kumar.
Not all agree about the benefits of the diagnostics
boom. Dr Arvind Lal, CEO of Dr Lal's Path Labs says, "It's too little
too late. It should have started 15 years ago." His labs test more
than 1,500 samples a day on automated machines. There is no room for mistakes,
he says, so he wouldn't trust the Indian kits. "There is need to
develop Indian kits of international standards especially for diseases
like JE, dengue and malaria," he says. But it is people who ultimately
determine the test's reliability no matter how good the kit. "So
technicians should be trained well and there should be strict checks on
test performance," says Makroo.
The cry for quality in diagnostic tests is being
heard at the macro level too. "Two centres are likely to give two
different results," says Satish Reddy, coo of Dr Reddy's Laboratories
in Hyderabad. Reddy is starting a joint venture with Gribbals of Australia
to set up clinical labs focusing on quality and management control. Dr
Lal plans to establish 50 standardised it-savvy labs in the next five
years. Finally, it seems, the hardy Indian viruses could be in for trouble.
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