THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, Tamilnadu, 21st April 2015 06:05 AM
COIMBATORE: To reduce delays, CMCH will stop carrying lab reports manually from the college campus on Avinashi Road to the hospital near the railway station and send the reports by e-mail, the CMCH council decided on Monday.Thousands of patients approach the pathology, microbiology and biochemistry labs every day for tests.According to MCI norms, the testing labs in medical college hospitals should be located within the hospital premises. CMCH being a 100-year-old institution, MCI has exempted it from this norm.
So, staff have been appointed to transport the samples to the testing centres on the college campus, collect the report and distribute them to the departments concerned at the hospital.While histopathology and cytology-related tests are done in the pathology lab, virology, bacteriology and culture and sensitivity (C&S) tests are conducted in the microbiology labs.On an average, it takes less than three hours to prepare urea, virology, bacteriology, renal and HIV-AIDS test reports. But patients have to wait for 24 hours even for the reports of these comparatively quick tests.
However, it takes three to four days to prepare histopathology and C&S reports after the testing. The transportation of samples from the hospital to the college premises on Avinashi Road delays the process further.There were no major issues till December last as the pathology lab was in the hospital premises. After this lab got shifted to the college campus, the process was delayed due to the need for transportation.CMCH Dean A Edwin Joe said the college council has agreed to the proposal to use the existing internal e-mail facility to send lab reports.This will avoid the delay caused now by the transportation of records. So, most reports can be given to the patients the same day the testing is done, he added.
