"Together we optimized available resources to achieve a common goal"Interview
Dr. Paramasivan inspecting the NRL renovation
Dr. C.N. Paramasivan, FIND Head of TB Laboratory Support, along with FIND consultant,
Dr. Ajay Kumar and Ms. Kekeletso Kao, Director, Health Research and Laboratory services,
was closely involved in the refurbishment of the NRL in Lesotho.
He answers a few questions regarding this major accomplishment.
Q: How would you describe the refurbishment experience in Lesotho and what developments are you most proud of?
A: Through a successful project with several other partners we succeeded, within a very short period of time,
in establishing a quality assured state of the art laboratory in a remote and resource poor setting where even quality
assured sputum microscopy was not available. For example, the NRL can now perform tests with comparable quality of results
as laboratories in developed countries, showing equivalent test failures rates, contamination rates and achievement
of quality controls. Besides providing ownership, we also helped in curtailing transmission dynamics and saved
considerable amount of money that was being spent by shipping samples to South Africa and Massachusetts to detect MDR TB cases.
Q: Following this experience in Lesotho, how would you describe FIND’s role when it comes to partnership building?
A: FIND demonstrated how to foster partnership by working together with other organizations such as PIH, WHO, URC, BD
and other agencies. Together we also managed to optimize the limited resources available to achieve a common goal.
People are now looking at this as a 'FIND Laboratory Strengthening Model' to replicate this success elsewhere.
Q: What other developments are likely to occur in the new laboratory in the coming months?
A: Besides being quality assured, the Lesotho National Reference Laboratory is providing laboratory support
for carrying out national level drug resistance surveillance and very soon the line probe assay, a proven molecular
test for the detection of MDR TB, which gives results in just a few hours. The NRL in Lesotho will then be at par with
any TB diagnostic laboratory in the West.
Turning evidence into policy and policy into practice – WHO's timeline:
http://www.who.int/tb/features_archive/lesotho_lab_timeline/en/
View Lesotho's TB country profile (WHO pdf):
http://www.who.int/GlobalAtlas/predefinedReports/TB/PDF_Files/lso.pdf
For scientific questions, please contact Dr. C.N. Paramasivan, FIND Head of TB Laboratory Support at:
cn.paramasivan@finddiagnostics.org
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