DAYANAND MEDICAL COLLEGE & HOSPITAL, LUDHIANA

   ID-NAT Tested Blood now available in DMCH 

Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana has pioneered a new era in blood safety by becoming the first hospital in Punjab to implement Individual Donor Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (ID-NAT), for blood screening. 

The ID-NAT lab at DMCH was inaugurated by Secretary of DMCH Managing Society- Sh Prem Kumar Gupta along with Principal Dr Daljit Singh, Chief Cardiologist Dr G Wander, Medical Superintendents- Dr Sandeep Puri and Dr Ashwani Chaudhary and Dr Amarjit Kaur (Professor & Head of Transfusion Medicine). 

Speaking at the occasion, Secretary Sh Prem Kuma Gupta said that, “DMCH takes its patients wellbeing very seriously.” He said, “We have decided to introduce ID-NAT testing in DMCH as this is an international standard blood screening test and has caught many cases of HIV-1, HCV and HBV infections that were missed by regular tests. We feel, with this new technique, DMCH patients can be surer that utmost care is taken for their safety.” 

While addressing the mediapersons, Medical Supdt. Dr Ashwani Chaudhary said that safest blood is the birth right of all human beings and to achieve that goal, DMCH has  introduced Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing  for the first time in the state of Punjab. Transmission of infective diseases to transfusion recipients will be drastically reduced due to effective screening of donor blood through this new technique, said Dr Ashwani Chaudhary 

Professor & Head of Transfusion Medicine-Dr Amarjit Kaur said that  that “Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAT) is an advanced test that detects the genetic material of viruses like HIV-1, HCV and HBV, if it is present in the blood of a donor. While the current serological screening methods take a few weeks to a few months to detect any infection, NAT test detects the infections within a few days itself, thereby drastically reducing any chances of an infected blood being transfused to any patient.”