The World Health Organisation (WHO) published the third version of its Model List of National Essential Diagnostics List on January 29, 2021. (EDL). This version contains WHO-recommended Covid-19 assays (nucleic acid and antigen detection), enhances the range of tests for vaccine-preventable and infectious illnesses and non-communicable diseases, and adds an endocrinology section. Country governments now must implement and adapt the WHO EDL to improve access to diagnostics in their nations.
The EDL is a bundle of suggested tests that should be available in every nation at different levels of the healthcare delivery system, similar to the WHO essential diagnostics list 2021.
WHO Essential Diagnostics List 2021
On Friday, the World Health Organisation (WHO), WHO essential diagnostics list 2021, added suggestions for polymerase and antigen-based COVID-19 diagnostic tests.
In addition to these and other suggestions to the organisation’s Essential Diagnostic List (EDL), WHO also proposed more tests to identify illnesses preventable by vaccinations and other contagious diseases and more tests for non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes. New endocrine tests are also being established to solve reproductive and women’s health concerns.
According to the WHO essential diagnostics list 2021, the National Essential Diagnostics List version includes a list of tests that should not be provided if they are not cost-effective, unreliable, or have become obsolete and have been substituted by a modern easier-to-use test.
Medical Testing and Diagnostic Procedures List
This is an all pathology test list of medical tests and methods used to acquire health information and diagnose pathological and nonpathological human body problems. It is organised alphabetically and organised by procedural type.
- Cellular and chemical examination
- Amniocentesis
- Blood analysis
- blood count
- blood typing
- bone marrow aspiration
- cephalin-cholesterol flocculation
- enzyme analysis
- epinephrine tolerance test
- glucose tolerance test
- hematocrit
- immunologic blood test
- inulin clearance
- serological test
- thymol turbidity
- gastric fluid analysis
- kidney function test
- liver function test
- lumbar puncture
- malabsorption test
- Pap smear
- phenolsulfonphthalein test
- pregnancy test
- prenatal testing
- protein-bound iodine test
- syphilis test
- thoracentesis
- thyroid function test
- toxicology test
Imaging Diagnostics
- angiocardiography
- angiography
- cerebral angiography
- brain scanning
- echoencephalography
- magnetoencephalography
- pneumoencephalography
- cholecystography
- echocardiography
- endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatoscopy
- lung ventilation/perfusion scan
- magnetic resonance imaging
- cardiac magnetic resonance imaging
- functional magnetic resonance imaging
- magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- mammography
- myelography
- prenatal testing
- tomography
- computed tomography
- positron emission tomography
- single-photon emission computed tomography
- ultrasound
- urography
A National Essential Diagnostics List is required.
Diagnostics have an important role in enhancing health and quality of life.
While the diagnostics price is a major problem in low- and middle-income nations such as India, low-cost, erroneous diagnostics have made their way into the Indian market, and they have no place in a quality healthcare system.
The introduction of the National Essential Diagnostics List would allow for enhanced health care service delivery through evidence-based care, improved patient outcomes, reduced out-of-pocket expense, and more effective use of public health resources
.WHO essential diagnostics list 2021; it would aid in the effective evaluation of illness burden, disease trends, surveillance, and epidemic detection and addressing the antibiotic resistance challenge.
The National Essential Diagnostics List is an evidence-based reference that examines illness occurrence internationally and suggests the right test for each condition. This advice intends to enhance the health system’s ability to make correct diagnoses and conserve important health resources that might otherwise be squandered on unnecessary treatment or prolonged hospital stays.
The list’s suggestions are based on solid research and consider national appropriateness. The Strategic Advisory Collection of Experts governs the In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD) procedure, a group of professionals worldwide with extensive expertise in IVD deployment, usage, regulation, and assessment. The experts assess each test’s usefulness, effect, and accuracy under consideration to determine which should be recommended.
National Essential Diagnostics List in India
The Indian Council of Medical Research’s key diagnostics list is extensive and ambitious; via it, the Indian Council of Medical Research hopes to establish diagnostics as a major component in health care. The all pathology test list should result in better patient outcomes and lower out-of-pocket diagnostic costs. The list was created due to a collaborative process led by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
As part of the National Essential Diagnostics List, its countrywide endeavour toward the government-led Health for All goal, the Indian government started the Free Drugs Service and Free Diagnostics Service Initiative in 2015, guided by the National Health Mission.
Conclusion
WHO essential diagnostics list 2021 contains in vitro diagnostics that should be offered in primary care or community settings, as well as in labs across the world. This year’s National Essential Diagnostics List addresses new pandemic realities by including COVID-19 tests (PCR and Antigen) and expanding the number of tests for many illnesses, both infectious and non-communicable. The document also includes an endocrinology section and a list of tests that should not be used due to low cost-efficiency and reliability or using outdated technology. The National Essential Diagnostics List, as an evidence-based guide, examines the overall status of health and recommends tests for each disease.