Major hospitals to conduct NAT test for blood safety

Delhi Government today decided to introduce Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT) to check safety of donated blood in all major hospitals run by it.
Currently the NAT, which cuts down the duration of window period drastically allowing early detection of infections, is available in a handful of city hospitals including AIIMS, RML and Apollo hospital.
The new testing and screening technology will cost Rs 800 per donor and will replace the existing ELISA test, which costs around Rs 100.
The decision to introduce the NAT for blood transfusion was taken at a cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

"In order to minimise the risk of transmission of infections due to transfusion of donated blood, the Cabinet has decided to introduce NAT screening of donated blood in major government hospitals," she said.
The ELISA test detects infections in respect of HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C viruses in the donated blood after approximately 21, 60 and 75 days of infections respectively. The period is known as window period.

Health Minister A K Walia said the new technology will cut down the duration of window period drastically.
The government will initially introduce the new testing at Lok Nayak hospital and GTB hospital.

The Cabinet has also given its nod to a proposal to make an amendment in Section 12 of the Delhi Professional Colleges or Institutions Act, 2007. The amendment is aimed at removing certain difficulties in functioning of the Army College of Medical Sciences being run by the Army Welfare Education Society.