PESHAWAR: Health department has decided to establish six regional laboratories to ensure timely detection of diseases and make quick response to put brakes on spread of ailments in the province.

The department has sent a request for release of funds to finance department after which these new laboratories will be notified, according to officials. They said that as per plan, those laboratories would have a total of 57 staffers, including 53 from health department and four from Khyber Medical University (KMU).

Initially, four laboratories will be established, one each in Peshawar, Swat, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan. These regional laboratories will perform testing at district and divisional level for local hospitals while Public Health Reference Laboratory (PHRL) at KMU will act as a provincial lab.

PHRL was established in 2016 as part of World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations by health department at KMU to ensure prompt testing of epidemics and ensure prevention of outbreaks.

Health dept has sent request to finance dept for release of funds

It will impart training to staffers of regional laboratories to enable them to perform investigations and help the public health section at health department to take steps for prevention of outbreaks of ailments.

Officials said that four people would also be taken on board to work in microbiology and molecular sides. The planned laboratories will conduct all tests, except highly specialised ones, which will be sent to PHRL. Currently, PHRL receives specimens from all districts and send the results accordingly.

PHRL, under a memorandum of understanding, has been sending samples for testing to National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, in case the required facilities are not available in it. The results of such tests, received from NIH, are shared by it with respective hospitals in districts.

“PHRL will take care of proficiency and quality control besides compilation of data and will share the same at national forums. It will also do advance level and rare testing. For instance, some tests such as that for Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which is not happening in all districts, and the cost of its kit is Rs400,00,” official told this scribe.

As per five-year, plan, the regional laboratories will be equipped with modern items to perform district level testing including that for malaria, dengue and typhoid etc.

Officials said that PHRL completed eight years of its existence during which it performed tests for more than 40 modifiable diseases, especially its eight million PCRs for Covid-19 at a cost of Rs350 million. Those tests would have cost more than Rs5 billion in private laboratories. PHRL not only saved more than Rs4.5 billion for health department but also played crucial role in prevention of the pandemic.

“Finance department is likely to release funds to PHRL, the employees of which have been without salaries for the past five months,” officials said. They said that PHRL sought Rs57 million and Finance Minister Muzzammil Aslam assured them of provision of funds to keep PHRL afloat as it would play basic role in setting up regional laboratories in addition to performing advance level testing for all hospitals in the province.

They said that PHRL, as per plan, would provide full support to regional laboratories through trainings and consumables.

They said that health department accorded priority to PHRL because it was playing vital role in identification of epidemics.

“The recent example is the detection of six mpox cases at Bacha Khan International Airport last year. The patients were then isolated and spread of the virus was prevented in a timely manner. Even a single mpox case could have infected more people if it was not detected,” said officials.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025