Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji
Around 15,000 blood investigations are carried out every day at Goa Medical College and Hospital’s (GMC) clinical biochemistry laboratory by spending a monthly budget of around Rs 2.5 crore. With two highly sophisticated machines capable of performing 1,200 tests per hour, the laboratory handles routine biochemistry tests, immunochemistry and specialised investigations, including tumour marker tests.
Doctors associated with the laboratory said they are seeing a noticeable rise in lifestyle-related diseases among younger people. High blood sugar, high cholesterol and elevated uric acid levels are increasingly being detected in patients as young as those in their twenties, with the most common age group falling between 30 and 45 years. According to doctors, this trend has become more evident over the last six to seven years.
“With two highly sophisticated machines capable of performing 1,200 tests per hour, the laboratory handles routine biochemistry tests, immunochemistry and specialised investigations, including tumour marker tests,” doctor added.
The laboratory is also reporting an increasing number of abnormal kidney function and thyroid test results. Doctors said deranged liver function tests linked to alcohol consumption are also being seen more frequently.
Clinical biochemistry laboratory is one of the pillars of healthcare delivery at GMC, ensuring that thousands of diagnostic investigations are completed every day to support timely diagnosis and treatment for patients across Goa.
Dr R G Wiseman Pinto, Professor of Pathology, former Head of Department and former Dean of Goa University, said “The laboratory handles a large number of investigations every day. We have around 1,250 blood sample collections per day, about 300 urine samples,
50 stool samples, four semen samples, 70 ESR tests, 40
BT and CT tests, 250 Prothrombin Time tests, 600 APTT tests, 25 fibrinogen tests and 35 body fluid samples per day.
“The GMC laboratory is the largest in Goa. Apart from this, there are laboratories attached to hospitals, standalone laboratories, corporate laboratories and highly specialised laboratories. “Most of the equipment in modern laboratories is automated and digital
and uses advanced information technology. Quality control and standardisation of each machine are carried out. The results have to be reliable, accurate, reproducible and quick.
“Laboratory investigations are divided into different areas such as hematology, clinical pathology, biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, histopathology, cytopathology, molecular diagnostics and genetics. “These tests are required for different purposes, including primary diagnosis, screening, follow-up, risk stratification and prognosis, and check-ups.
“Hematology investigations include haemoglobin, RBC and WBC counts,
complete blood count, ESR and peripheral smear examinations. “Biochemical investigations include liver function tests, renal function tests, lipid profile, glucose and HbA1c.
Laboratories also carry
out hormone analysis, tumour marker tests, vitamin analysis, panels for infections, investigations for
haemolytic diseases and bleeding disorders, besides urine, stool and body fluid examinations.
