K’shetra govt hospital’s lab gives wrong blood reports
A lab report is the only authentic source to confirm any infection in the body. We start treatment as per the blood report, but the very next day, they change the result in their fresh report.
KURUKSHETRA: Thousands of patients visiting the Lok Narayan Jai Prakash (LNJP) government hospital in Kurukshetra daily are relying on a laboratory, which provides misleading blood reports, besides violating the norms set by Medical Council of India (MCI).
In several cases, the blood reports given by the lab created confusion among doctors as they gave positive results of serious Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection after tests of certain patients and a few days later gave negative results in the same cases.
As per blood reports accessed by Hindustan Times, the laboratory in the hospital has showed a patient, Angoori Devi, carrying HCV infection on April 8, but two days later the report showed a negative report for the same patient. But again on April 20, another report of the same lab says the patient is infected with HCV.
Similarly, another patient Seema was tested positive for HCV infection on February 11, but on March 3, the lab gave her a negative report.
A senior doctor of the LNJP hospital, on the condition of anonymity, said, “These misleading reports are not only dangerous for the patients but also for the doctors.”
He added, “A lab report is the only authentic source to confirm any infection in the body. We start treatment as per the report, but the very next day, they change the result in the report.”
Moreover, these reports also violate the directions of the MCI, which has ruled that only MBBS doctors registered with it or with the medical councils of various states are eligible to sign diagnostic reports.
Signatures of MBBS doctors are must on the reports, but the reports of this lab do not have any signature, even of the lab technician to avoid action.
“The authorities have failed to implement the orders in government hospitals. How can they force private lab technicians to do so,” added the doctor.
Dr Manjeet Singh, in-charge of the lab at the LNJP hospital, said, “Our staff is over-burdened and every day, we have to conduct about 1,500 tests and this affects the working”.
Asked about the contradictory reports, he said, “Generally, we don’t give negative report to a patient infected with a virus, but in some cases the possibility of positive results to a patient who does not have infection cannot be denied. But, we conduct the test again to confirm the infection.”
Kurukshetra civil surgeon Dr SK Nain said, “We have already issued directions for the implementation of the MCI norms, but if there are no signatures on the blood reports I will get the matter examined.”
Sources in the hospital said the lab relies on only 5 regular lab technicians and 6 trainees and the hospital did not get the required staff even after repeated reminders to the government.