The Dow Clinical & Research Laboratory is a core diagnostic lab associated with 800 -bedded tertiary care Dow University Hospital & Dow International Medical College. It has separate sections of Histopathology, Molecular Pathology, Chemical Pathology, Hematology, Microbiology, Clinical Chemistry, Blood bank, Cytology and Biochemistry. Currently, it has over a dozen of Collection points across and outside Karachi metropolis while planning to open more sample pickup points soon in order to enable easy access for the patients in far flung areas. It also provides testing facilities to Postgraduates, MPhil and PhD students for conducting their research. To provide reliable, high quality diagnostic services of international standard for routine and specialized tests at extremely economical rates (approx. at 30% as compared to private ones) for all socioeconomic segments of population. DDRRL is the fastest growing lab in Pakistan. Monthly about 25,000 tests are performed and up till now more than one million tests have been performed. Internal quality assurance is guaranteed by daily controls. Provisions of online electronic reporting & image transfer facilities also exist. More than 100 researchers have conducted various tests. DDRRL proactively collaborates in Research & Academics with AKU, KU, NED, AIDA control, TB and Hep-C control programs. The DDRRL has international collaborations with Caglin University, South Coarolina USA & Cardif University UK. The research facilities help postgraduates of MPhil and PhD. All related departments of DDRRL provide State of Art facilities. Histopathology Department
The Histopathology Department performs special and immunological stains for conclusive biopsy reporting including FISH by hybridization. Microbiology Department
The Microbiology Department provides routine and specialized diagnostic and research services. The Dow lab also provides TB culture and sensitivity Rifampicin and INH resistance by Molecular techniques. Molecular Pathology Department
The Molecular Pathology Department offer Qualitative and Quantitative PCR testing of Hepatitis B, C, and D viruses along with their Genotyping. This lab facility is equipped with state of art technique i.e. conventional and automated systems of PCR machines, Fluorescence in-Situ Hybridization technique, and Gel Electrophoresis and Documentation system. Parameters in Molecular Pathology
1. HCV Qualitative PCR
2. HCV Quantitative/Viral Load PCR
3. HCV Genotyping PCR
4. HCV Subtyping PCR
5. HBV Qualitative PCR
6. HBV Quantitative/Viral Load PCR
7. HBV Genotyping PCR
8. HDV Viral Load/Quantitative PCR
9. MTB PCR
Total Lab Automation
The Lab currently performs on average around one million Immunochemistry tests (834,000) per year. The volume is growing rapidly day by day, and approximately 13,20,000 patients are attended by the Dow Lab per month. The machines have 14 times capacity than the current production rate. In order to cope up with the increasing workload and provide state of the art quality results to masses irrespective of their socioeconomic class, the Dow Management has joined hands with one of the world’s leading laboratory solution providers, the Abbott Diagnostics to install its Accelerator Automated Processing (APS) System with the capability to streamline testing process and enable accurate reporting with efficient turnaround time while dealing with high volume of tests at a time. Accelerator Automated Processing System:
This full automation brings a number of benefits for the lab. For Dow, it consolidates about 98% of the total test load onto what we regard as a single platform. For us the ACCELERATOR is one instrument. We get all tests from one sample. If we look at staff interaction with the APS system on a day-to-day basis, the most important point to pick up on is that it is a single point of entry that is the Input output module. That means for all samples, whether it would be STAT, routine, capped, uncapped—they are all entered at the single point of entry. This also means that samples which are sorted for secondary analysis are presented at the same point. In other words, samples that have to be sent on to another hospital, another laboratory, or for in-house testing are all presented at the same point, sealed, and ready for transportation to its next destination. Refrigerated Centrifuges:
The TLA system is equipped with two refrigerated centrifuges with total capacity of more than 600 tubes per hour. Once the samples are spun, they move to the decapper so that the cap can be removed and discarded. Those tubes which are loaded as already spun, bypass the centrifuges and are straightaway decapped. Now the tubes are ready for analysis on the analyzers. Abbott Architect Analyzers:
The Abbott Architect analyzers themselves are robust and easy-to-use. We have two analyzers each for Clinical Chemistry & Immunoassay attached to the track. With the analytic capacity of upto 400 Immunoassay and 2400 clinical chemistry tests per hour, these not only provide for our increasing capacity needs but also serve as back up of each other to keep us smoothly running all the time. At the chemistry level, the chemistries are stable and have extended linear ranges. If we look to the immunoassays, they too have exceptional sensitivity such as for TSH, Infectious disease markers, and particularly for tumor markers. This is an area where we had mainly manual dilutions. It just does not happen anymore. They are dealt with on-board by the instrument with accuracy and precision. As we have this automation system in our lab now, we expect to see remarkable improvements in our processing capacity, overall turnaround times, quality and consistency in our reporting. We now know from hour to hour how long the average sample is going to take. One very important and interesting aspect is incorporating our urgent sample analysis into the ACCELERATOR. We have many requests from Emergency and Inpatient Departments esp. ICU, who are looking for a very quick turnaround on results. This system allows us to stream those separately into the STAT port and deliver very acceptable turnaround times to this group of customers in a more efficient and consistent manner. The Dow’s highly qualified and well-experienced staff is fully trained and capable of running this system now round the clock support to ensure smooth running of the system and uninterrupted patient reporting.
