Illegal businesses: Discrepancies in labs plague medical tests
Many unregistered enterprises have no fixed rates.
Photo: FILE
PESHAWAR:
Many laboratories near the three major hospitals in the city are not registered.
These laboratories are set up illegally and do not take proper measures while conducting tests, maintained the owner of a lab in front of Lady Reading Hospital. Patients who are not familiar with the city are often lured into such enterprises by people standing outside hospitals, he added.
The cost of a particular test in registered laboratories may vary depending on the owners and patients. One lab charges Rs300 for a Hepatitis test, while another charges Rs500. Cost of tests for diabetes, liver and kidney are also variable.
Lab owners were hesitant to share the rates for tests, saying they were not authorised to disclose the information. “Rates can be fixed through bargain,” said one lab’s owner on the condition of anonymity.
He alleged Health Regularity Authority (HRA) officials raid illegal medical facilities, but these businesses bribe the officials.
According to HRA Chairman Muhammad Muzafar Khan, the authority is planning to streamline all labs in the province and will be giving them a deadline to get registered by. He added it would take a month to finalise the mechanism, after which the list will be made public.
The HRA, however, lacks the required staff to keep a check on illegal medical practices. It has hired four inspectors to visit labs across the province, but Khan claimed they are not enough. The HRA does not hold any specific data on registered and unregistered labs and clinics either. The reason for this too, is said to be shortage of technical staff.
“We have not given a price list to any laboratory, letting them charge what they want. But when they get registered, they will be controlled and no lab will be allowed to function illegally,” the HRA chairman added.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.
Many laboratories near the three major hospitals in the city are not registered.
These laboratories are set up illegally and do not take proper measures while conducting tests, maintained the owner of a lab in front of Lady Reading Hospital. Patients who are not familiar with the city are often lured into such enterprises by people standing outside hospitals, he added.
The cost of a particular test in registered laboratories may vary depending on the owners and patients. One lab charges Rs300 for a Hepatitis test, while another charges Rs500. Cost of tests for diabetes, liver and kidney are also variable.
Lab owners were hesitant to share the rates for tests, saying they were not authorised to disclose the information. “Rates can be fixed through bargain,” said one lab’s owner on the condition of anonymity.
He alleged Health Regularity Authority (HRA) officials raid illegal medical facilities, but these businesses bribe the officials.
According to HRA Chairman Muhammad Muzafar Khan, the authority is planning to streamline all labs in the province and will be giving them a deadline to get registered by. He added it would take a month to finalise the mechanism, after which the list will be made public.
The HRA, however, lacks the required staff to keep a check on illegal medical practices. It has hired four inspectors to visit labs across the province, but Khan claimed they are not enough. The HRA does not hold any specific data on registered and unregistered labs and clinics either. The reason for this too, is said to be shortage of technical staff.
“We have not given a price list to any laboratory, letting them charge what they want. But when they get registered, they will be controlled and no lab will be allowed to function illegally,” the HRA chairman added.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.