Salt quality control: 34 labs to be set up in Punjab

Health Department, Micronutrient Initiative hold training for lab technicians.

MULTAN:

The Punjab government plans to set up 34 quality control laboratories, one in each of district, to monitor salt iodisation in 2013, Dr Khawaja Masood, the national programme manager (iodine deficiency disorder/ universal salt iodisation) at the Micronutrient Initiative said on Saturday.

These will be in addition to the pre-existing 34 laboratories in the Punjab.

Addressing a training course for lab technicians organised jointly by the Health Department and Micronutrient Initiative, Dr Masood said the decision had been taken recently by the chief minister keeping in view the efficiency of the laboratories in maintaining health standards.

Talking about quality control, Dr Masood said that the Punjab government wanted provision of health and education facilities to be prioritised. Setting up the quality control laboratories was part of the government’s health policy, he added.

Programme Manager Munawwar Hussain said that salt iodisation was the biggest challenge in South-East Asia. Talking about the history of salt iodisation in Pakistan, Hussain said that quality control was an important component of iodine deficiency disorder and that universal salt iodisation was the biggest intervention to counter the deficiency.

Briefing the participants about the working of these labs, he said that samples of edible salt collected in all districts were being analysed.

He said the feedback was shared with salt processing companies and the district monitoring officers so that rectification measures could be taken to improve quality of salt iodisation.

Three reference labs have been working in the Punjab to monitor the quality of district labs, he added.

Health Services Director (Multan division) Dr Muhammad Rafi said that the daily use of adequately iodised salt could prevent mental and physical retardation, cretinism (congenital condition caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormone), still births and brain damage.

He said it helped children live healthy and productive lives.

He highlighted the role of quality control laboratory staff and said that tests performed at laboratories and feedback shared with district monitors were crucial to the iodisation process.

Training facilitators Muhammad Sharif, Muhammad Yasin and Zaheer Abbas elaborated the analysis of iodine in edible salt through titration method and different quality control measures.

The lecture was followed by practical demonstrations at the Public Analyst Food Laboratory. The participants were given certificates at the concluding ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2012.