Bhubaneswar, June 9: Four years after the announcement, the health and family welfare department finally introduced the much-awaited Nucleic Acid Testing-Polymerase Chain Reaction (NAT-PCR) blood testing facility at Capital Hospital here today.
This facility significantly decreases the chances of infected blood being transfused into patients. Earlier, the public health institutions in the state were using the traditional Enzyme-linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) to detect viruses in blood before transfusing the same into patients.
Medical experts believe that the advantage of NAT-PCR over the widely used ELISA is the reduction in the window period of the virus resulting in an early detection of infection in the donor's blood. Window period is the duration in which the infection is present in the donor's blood, but difficult to detect by screening techniques.
With NAT, the medicos will now be able to detect HIV 1 and 2, hepatitis B and C-infected blood much early as compare to the traditional ELISA. Capital Hospital Blood Bank manager Debashis Mishra told The Telegraph that the patients could avail the service every day from the blood bank by paying a charge of Rs 750.
Inaugurating the facility at the hospital, health and family welfare minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said NAT was the latest technology in the field of blood testing and would prove phenomenal for the state-run blood banks.
"Capital Hospital has become the first and only public health institution in the state to have this facility. The service will be extended to other hospitals," Nayak said.
The health and family welfare department had already introduced NAT at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Burla, and has decided to start it at Sreeram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, tomorrow and Maharaja Krishna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, shortly.
Blood safety has always remained a much-discussed topic among various sections of the society. Ironically, though most people are aware that they might get infected with HIV if they don't practice safe sex, a large percentage of them are less cautious about safety when it comes to blood transfusion.
"I was unaware of the difference between ELISA and NAT in blood testing earlier. Once I got to know of this, I was terrified and used to send the blood for testing to AIIMS, New Delhi. Now I am happy that Capital Hospital has introduced the facility," said Bibhu Mohanty, the attendant of a patient here.
The state government has roped in private partner Roche Diagnostic India for implementation of the latest NAT facility at the hospital.
"The government had earlier invited views from various stakeholders on introducing the facility. Later, we had floated tenders and selected the private diagnostic company to implement the service," said an official of the health department.
"The World Health Organisation recommendations mandate high-quality screening of all donated blood for infections, blood grouping and compatibility testing to meet health care needs. As a screening technology, NAT has proven effective in detecting window period cases of viral infections," said the head of medical and scientific affairs at Roche, Sandeep Sewilikar.
The state collects nearly 3.41 lakh blood units every year. This figure is based on only state-run and Red Cross-owned blood banks.
According to various studies, one in every 500 units of whole blood collected from a donor can easily bypass the ELISA test even if it is infected by HIV or hepatitis viruses. With the present NAT facility, health experts believe that this lacuna would be largely avoided.
