Deepak Kumar KC, head of the Metropolitan City Health Department, informed that the Metropolitan City is working to provide hospital-like health services to all 32 ward-levels.
What you should know
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has taken forward the development of infrastructure and human capital for quality health services. Deepak Kumar KC, head of the Metropolitan City Health Department, informed that the Metropolitan City is working to provide hospital-like health services to all 32 ward-level health services.
For this purpose, the Metropolitan City has already conducted training in 32 wards in two phases. In the first phase, technicians from ward numbers 1 to 16 and from 17 to 32 have been trained, KC informed.
Theoretical and practical knowledge and practice have also been provided on national and international policies, procedures and practices of public health quality, methods of preparing patients for sample collection, possible errors and risks, quality control procedures, collection and testing of tuberculosis samples, laboratory hygiene and sanitation, hazardous waste management tools, equipment and methods, and human resource relations. The Metropolitan City is providing health services through Health Promotion Centers in 32 wards.
Health laboratories have been established in each ward. These laboratories conduct basic health tests including blood tests for diabetes, kidney and urine tests, and tuberculosis tests using sputum. Out of the ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ group public health laboratories, the local government has been given the right to operate the ‘D’ and ‘E’ group laboratories.
Santosh Subedi, Deputy Chief of the Quality Control and Training Branch of the National Public Health Laboratory, says, “We are committed to maintaining the quality of the laboratories of Kathmandu Metropolitan City and increasing the capacity of the human resources to exercise the rights granted by law.”
According to the ‘Directive on Health Laboratory Establishment and Operation Standards 2073’, laboratories based at government-level health posts fall under ‘E’ group and laboratories based at government-level primary health centers fall under ‘D’ group. According to Radhika Kuinkel, Lab Technician and Health Laboratory In-charge of the Metropolitan City, efforts are being made to standardize the laboratory results in collaboration with internal control systems and external laboratories.
The laboratory is based on science and technology. Since these areas are undergoing the fastest changes, laboratory technicians need to feel like they are participating in training every day, and they need to establish and work based on service operation standards.
