Around 50,000 private medical lab technicians in Kerala, a majority of them women, are staring at an uncertain future in the wake of the minimum standards for healthcare institutions under the Clinical Establishments Act coming into force in the State recently.
As per the minimum standards prescribed under the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2018, the labs are classified into Level 1, Level II and Level III, based on the available facilities. Level I lab should have an area of 500 sq. ft, Level II 1,500 sq. ft, and Level III 2,000 sq. ft.
Level I lab should have at least one technician with a diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT). Level II labs should have a medical postgraduate doctor qualified in pathology, a lab technician with a diploma in MLT, a lab assistant and a cleaner. Level III labs should have trained medical postgraduates in pathology; either graduates or postgraduates in MLT as scientific officer; a trained lab technician with either a BSc in MLT or a diploma in MLT; a lab assistant; and a cleaner.
All the labs should also have a proper waiting area and facilities for seating, drinking water, and toilet, and proper lighting. They should also have adequate space with designated areas for registration and sample collection, apart from space for pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical tests.
Of the around 6,500 private medical labs, almost 5,000 are on premises measuring less than 300 sq. ft. According to Shareef Paloli, convener, Kerala Paramedical Coordination Committee, a large number of the private medical labs are functioning from single rooms in commercial buildings, where there is no scope for expansion. Most of them cannot be developed to include new facilities. “Also, most of the private medical lab technicians don’t have the required qualifications because they started working before the modern MLT courses were introduced,” he said. The coordination committee was formed after merging Kerala Paramedical Laboratory Owners’ Federation, Medical Laboratory Owners’ Association, and the Kerala Private Medical Technicians’ Association.
Other functionaries of the committee point out that conducting even simple tests such as the bilirubin test to help detect liver diseases can now be conducted only in Level II labs. They claim that though these concerns were raised during a meeting chaired by Health Minister Veena George on May 31 this year, the authorities ignored them. When pharmacy council and medical council laws were introduced in the State earlier, they say, efforts were taken to protect existing jobs. No such steps are being taken now, Mr. Shareef adds.
