HIV testing labs to get accreditation

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HIV testing labs to get accreditation

Staff Reporter

Facilities will have to meet prescribed quality standards

Chennai : Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) will

introduce a system of accreditation for government and private

HIV/AIDS testing laboratories, its Project Director Supriya Sahu said

on Monday.

TANSACS-accredited laboratories would have to meet prescribed

standards, Ms. Sahu said at the inauguration of a five-day workshop

on emerging issues in HIV testing. People would thus be assured of

quality service, she explained. Laboratory technicians of accredited

centres will be required to complete a certificate course in HIV

testing and counselling. The laboratories will display a TANSACS

logo.

Ms. Sahu said that government centres for testing and counselling

were regularly subjected to a quality check. Five per cent of samples

tested by these centres were sent to medical colleges to confirm if

the testing was accurate.

" The time has come to test as many people as possible, " Ms. Sahu

said. TANSACS would intensify its `Test is Best' campaign to urge

more people to volunteer for testing. She urged young people to ask

for a counselling/testing centre in their university or college

campus if it would help them.

Saliva testing

The TANSACS Project Director said that several new testing methods,

including saliva-based testing kits for homes, were available in

India. Issues of affordability and reliability of new tests have to

be deliberated, she said. A saliva-based testing home kit costs about

Rs. 1,000. Balakrishnan Pachamuthu, Laboratory Manager at YRG Care,

said that saliva-based testing was reliable but excludes the

component of counselling when done at home.

P. Krishnamurthy, Project Director of Aids Prevention and Control

Project of Voluntary Health Services, said that saliva-based testing

counselling was important to curb new infection. About 500

counsellors are expected to participate in a conference on how to

help patients to be held in Chennai shortly.

Health Secretary V. K. Subburaj called for accurate reporting by the

media to remove any misconceptions that people may have about

HIV/AIDS. The workshop is jointly organised by USAID, Internews

Network and a few agencies working on AIDS awareness.

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/19/stories/2006121913960300.htm