‘Now, blood tests to be free-of-cost at block hosps’

BALURGHAT: The supply of reagents has started in block hospitals under the initiative of the concerned South Dinajpur district Health department as per instruction of the state Health department for various blood tests.

Semi-auto-analyser machines for conducting various blood tests had been supplied to all the block hospitals in South Dinajpur district long before but most of the block hospitals had no reagents, hence the tests had come to a halt. Sudip Das, Chief Medical Officer of Health of South Dinajpur, said that the patients of eight blocks of the district will get the opportunity to get 12 types of blood tests done for free now.

“Due to the lack of reagents, we were not able to conduct all the blood tests except a few basic ones, including haemoglobin percentage and blood-sugar level tests. Now the reagents are available in the block hospitals for 12 types of blood tests.

The patients can get free blood tests there,” Das said. In the past with tests not being done in these hospitals owing to lack of reagents, patients had to go to external private labs or sub-divisional hospitals.

“It has been almost two weeks since the district Health department started this process anew. Reagent-fluids are being purchased at the district level and are being supplied to block hospitals,” Das stated. 12 essential blood tests, including creatinine, bilirubin-total, triglycerides, cholesterol-total, sugar-test, uric-acid, SGPT, SGOT, total-protein, albumin, haemoglobin will be conducted now.