Lab Services

Lab Services Division PSACS

Lab Services Division plays a crucial role in providing quality assured laboratory services and emphasizing the delivery of high-quality laboratory services is essential for the success of the National AIDS Control Program (NACP).

Established Facilities under Lab Services Division
Facilities	Place	Linked Peripheral Units
2 State Reference Laboratories (SRLs)	Government Medical College Amritsar and Government Medical College Patiala	114 ICTCs (57 each)
1 Viral Load Testing Lab (VLTL)	Government Medical College Amritsar	ART Centres
10 CD4 Labs	Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Bathinda, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran	ART Centres

SRL GMC Patiala is NABL accreditated and the NABL accreditation of SRL & VLTL at GMC Amritsar is under process. The viral load testing is conducted not only at the Viral Load Lab at GMC Amritsar but also at Viral Load Lab at PGIMER, Chandigarh.

Activities of Lab Services Division:-

Establishing and Improving Quality Management Systems in ICTC, CD4 and Viral Load Labs.
External Quality Assurance Programme for HIV testing laboratories.
CD4 testing for initiation and monitoring of patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Viral Load testing for second line ART.
Accreditation and certifications of HIV testing laboratories.
Training of laboratory personnel.

External Quality Assurance Programme

To ensure the quality of testing, NACO has administered an External Quality Assessment (EQA) Programme in which HIV testing laboratories are arranged in a tiered manner with Apex laboratory (NARI, Pune) at the very top, 1 National Reference Laboratory (NRL) at AIIMS, New Delhi and 2 State Reference Laboratories (SRLs) at GMC Amritsar and GMC Patiala which monitor and supervise the activities of all peripheral 114 ICTCs (57 each). The EQAS Panel workshops are conducted by each SRL twice a year as per the EQAS calendar. The EQA program’s reporting is uploaded and monitored at NACO Prayogshala online portal.