Types of Health Facilities in the Private Sector: Private Labs

Laboratories in the private sector provide a variety of TB diagnostic services. They may be stand-alone laboratories, or part of any multispecialty hospital at various levels. There are also diagnostic chains with a network of laboratories and feeder sites. 

These laboratories may provide services such as, Smear microscopy, Rapid Molecular diagnostic tests (CBNAAT and Truenat), Radiography (Chest Xray, CT Scan), Histopathology and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology(FNAC). Specialized Laboratories may also provide Culture and Drug Susceptibility Testing (C&DST) services; however these need to be certified/ accredited for their results to be valid. Accreditation of labs is performed based on request to the Central TB Division through National reference laboratories. A total of 20 laboratories are currently certified to provide quality-assured TB C&DST services. 

Private laboratories are required to notify all TB cases that they diagnose to the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) through Ni-kshay. All laboratories need to be registered in Ni-kshay as a health facility and may perform the notification using the user credentials obtained. As of March 2021, 20899 private laboratories were mapped in Ni-kshay.

Private Laboratory chains may also partner with the state NTEP for expanding TB diagnostic services in the sate.

Resources

 India TB Report 2021, NTEP, MoHFW, GoI.

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