QCI launches Nat'l Programme for Essential Standards

Bhopal, Feb 7 (UNI) The Centre's Quality Council of India (QCI) today launched a National Programme for Essential Standards in Medical Laboratories.

The pioneering programme, unveiled by the Madhya Pradesh Department of Health and Family Welfare and QCI, is for the benefit of public health and provides comprehensive quality standards in all public and private medical diagnostic labs. This state is the first to embrace QCI's Essential Standard for all its 700 odd public medical labs, a release said.

''Today, the autorickshaw has more standards for quality and service than our one lakh medical testing labs. Ultimately, it is the patient who suffers when quality is not assured,'' said QCI Advisor T Venkatesh.

''Madhya Pradesh should be highly commended for its initiative, leading the nation as the first state committed to moving the quality of its medical labs toward world-class standards,'' said QCI's implementation partner OneWorld-Lab Private Limited's Lucia Berte, an international lab quality expert who was guest speaker.

''We applaud and support this powerful new programme that balances rigour and practicality in its phased manner of improving quality of diagnostic services in our country,'' remarked Confederation of Associations of Laboratory Medicine-India Convenor K Taranath Shetty.

In a prepared statement, the state's Director (Family Welfare) K K Shukla and QCI Secretary-General Girdhar Gyani noted, ''together, we give our strongest recommendation and special invitation to all medical labs in Madhya Pradesh to become certified to QCI's National Essential Standard,'' as per the release.

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