Doctors, lab associations seek revised govt order on medical laboratories

The members of the Para-Medical Lab Education and Welfare Association said that the Health Department should issue a revised government order on the required space for setting up laboratories.

As per the Clinical Establishments Act, there are several guidelines that need to be fulfilled for setting up any clinical establishment. A government order made it mandatory that medical laboratories in rural areas should have a space of at least 500 sqft and those in the urban areas should have1,500 sqft.

“Following the GO, the State ordered closure of all the small medical laboratories. When the issue was raised, the State Health department said that they will issue a revised government order. The officials later assured that the space requirements will be reduced to 150 sqft. However, there has been no final decision and the government order is still awaited,” said Dr GR Ravindranath, secretary of Tamil Nadu Health Care Workers’ Federation and Doctors’ Association for Social Equality.

The members of Para-Medical Lab Education and Welfare Association also alleged that there were various corrupt practices followed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), including demanding money for lab registration and giving a clearance to these laboratories to dispose of biomedical waste.

“The joint directors and the officials from TNPCB are demanding money in case of granting approval for these medical laboratories. These corrupt practises need to be brought to light, as the para-medical staff and doctors are facing several issues due to this,” said a member of the association.