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Testing hampered at NHSL STD Unit

03 Oct 2022

By Buddhika Samaraweera The All-Ceylon Nurses’ Union (ACNU) stated that due to the lack of necessary reagents and other equipment, most of the tests being carried out at the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Unit (STD Unit), also known as the 33rd Ward of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) in Colombo, have been stopped or limited. Speaking to The Morning, ACNU President S.B. Mediwatthe said that due to the shortage of reagents and other equipment needed, many tests at the STD Unit of the NHSL have been hampered. He said that, compared to other tests, the non-performance of tests for the detection of STDs in a proper manner will have many adverse consequences. “Usually, there is a test that is performed to find out if the patients diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection have Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Patients diagnosed with HIV infection from all parts of the country come to the NHSL to get this test done. However, the performance of this test has been completely halted due to lack of reagents,” he added.  Mediwatthe also said that due to the shortage of reagents, another test to find out whether the newborn children of HIV-positive mothers are also HIV-positive is also not being performed at present. In addition, he said that the test conducted to check the percentage of the virus in the blood of HIV-positive patients is also not being carried out. “There have been a lot of obstacles in conducting tests for the diagnosis of other STDs. At a time when the spread of such diseases is on the rise, the testing process should be expanded, but the authorities have allowed the testing process to collapse instead. The attention given by the authorities to the health of the people is clearly evident through the way they are failing to resolve such a sensitive issue.” he added.  Attempts to contact Ministry of Health Communications Director Dr. Hemantha Herath and the NHSL in this regard proved futile.  The College of Medical Laboratory Scientists (CMLS) claimed last week that due to the shortage of reagents, the performance of many biochemical tests at the NHSL have either come to a halt or have been limited, but that the top officials of the NHSL are not working to remedy this situation as they have connections with private laboratories around the hospital and receive various benefits from them. Meanwhile, the National Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Control Programme recently pointed out the need for the provision of proper sex education, citing the significant increase in HIV infections among youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years, and AIDS-related deaths over the past year and to date.


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