Action against unlicensed diagnostic centres

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), there are around 5,000 diagnostic centres in the country. And half of them are reportedly operating without valid licences. They allegedly do not maintain any standard of diagnostic labs. Often, even the names of technicians and physicians are used without their knowledge. The pathology report delivered by these centres can even be signed by the deceased doctor. All they are doing is deceiving people for earning money.

Many of these diagnostic centres do not have any testing equipment nor physicians and medical technologists. They collect samples from patients and make fake reports using the name of a physician. At times in many diagnostic centres of the country, pathological test reports are carried out by date-expired chemical reagents. These centres, however, charge exorbitant fees from patients. But the owners do not care about maintaining minimum hygienic practices in these centres.

To operate, a diagnostic centre requires clearance certificates from the Department of Narcotics Control, Department of Environment, Department of Atomic Energy, trade licence, TIN and VAT registration. But more than 2,500 diagnostic centres are now running without these certificates. The test reports delivered by such diagnostic centres are questionable. If tests are not reliable, the diagnosis will be wrong and so will the treatment. We urge the authorities concerned to monitor these establishments closely so that the fake diagnostic facilities can be closed permanently. Legal action should be taken against such unauthorised and illegal facilities.

Ashikujaman Syed,

Research Assistant,

Bioinformatics Research Lab,

Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID), syedashikujaman@gmail.com