Jammu: A team of Centre for Disease Control (CDC), New Delhi inspected COBAS 6800 lab installed in GMC Jammu and gave clearance for starting viral load testing in GMC Jammu for the better management of ‘HIV and Hepatitis B, C patients’.
For solid organ transplant programmes also, viral load testing on various viruses is the need of hour for better patient care.
The COBAS 6800 Lab of the Department of Microbiology was inspected by Dr Manoj Kumar (senior manager LaQSH) in collaboration with CDC New Delhi as lead assessor.
Dr Kumar meticulously assessed the laboratory services and manpower and declared the laboratory suitable for initiation of viral load testing with an assessment score of 93.5 percent.
This would be followed by training of staff and the start of viral load testing in GMC Jammu.
With the establishment of viral load testing various patients under treatment of Hepatitis under the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NVHCP) and HIV under National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) would be benefited and eventually improve the diagnosis and patient care.
The COBAS Lab has been established under the VRDL programme as a state of the art lab and is playing a lead role in COVID RT-PCR testing in Jammu province.
All over India 64 Abbott platforms and 13 COBAS 6800 have been allocated for viral load testing.
Earlier, the sample of HIV viral load used to be sent to Chandigarh by NACO but with the establishment of this platform for viral load and all the further tests would be done in Jammu including viral load testing in Hepatitis B and C patients and transplant associated infections in immunosuppressed patients.