KATHMANDU, Jan 18: The Ministry of Health (MoH) is planning to set up sophisticated laboratories in each of the seven federal provinces within the current fiscal year.

“The government will establish the high quality laboratories in each of the provinces in the country,” tweeted Health Minister Gagan Thapa on the social networking site. “The process to set up the laboratories will begin within the current fiscal year,” he said.

According to Minister Thapa, the state laboratories will be as sophisticated as the central laboratory in Kathmandu.

National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), which is believed to be a reliable pathology lab in the country, is the state-run national reference laboratory under the Department of Health Services (DoHS) and the MoH. It is directly linked with all of the 277 government laboratories across the country. 

NPHL was established in 1968 as the Central Health Laboratory. The name was changed to NPHL in 1991 after being given the organizational and administrative responsibilities for ensuring public health and operating clinical diagnostic health laboratory services.

People of all provinces will get facilities of reliable lab tests at reasonable cost from the state-owned laboratories, according to the MoH. However, the ministry is yet to estimate the total budget required to establish the labs equipped with sophisticated tools.

“Though we are yet to calculate the cost, we are preparing to set up laboratories in the federal provinces,” said Pratap Paudel, advisor to Minister Thapa. “We have begun the process to work for the establishment of the labs,” he added. “We are committed to do it at any cost.”

 
• ministry of health
 
• sophisticated laboratories
 
• federal provinces
 
• current fiscal year