Lab automation set to be a key contributor in the Government’s ‘Health for All’ initiative

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Clinical lab automation is growing in India; however, its impact on patient care is yet to be felt fully as only a small percentage of laboratories are fully automated. With the various Government initiatives for providing a better healthcare landscape, it will be interesting to see how lab automation can make the difference!

With Ayushman Bharat becoming the most trending topic of 2018 in the Indian healthcare arena, all eyes are set on how the health ministry meets the promise of providing free diagnostics to the beneficiaries in secondary and tertiary healthcare set-up.

Though diagnostics is at the centre of healthcare delivery, it is ironical that in a country like India, 70% population has never got their blood tested. In such a scenario, providing affordable diagnostics, leave alone free diagnostics, poses the biggest challenge. One thing is clear, to entitle affordable healthcare to 50 crore citizens, the government is joining hands with the industry. Which means, once the scheme is implemented, laboratories and hospitals will have to gear up to manage a huge workload. And while the demand for tests is expected to go up complemented by a changing economic paradigm, laboratories will be compelled to think out-of-the-box to maintain the balance between quality, accuracy and affordability.

This is where laboratory automation can play a significant role. The last few years has seen tremendous change in this field. From a manual, hands-on process for a simple test menu to an instrument-centric, high-volume set-up, automation has become indispensable to meet the increasing demand for high productivity and cost reduction. Infact, it is now a multi-billion market consisting of several manufacturers of integrated and workflow systems and components as well as software to improve the overall process efficiency.

Many reasons to automate!

While speaking of public healthcare schemes, that require the handing of high workload, it is often simply more time and cost-effective to automate. Large laboratories requiring high throughput have been the firsts to experience the benefit of automation. However, as the industry has matured and the benefits of automation have proven to be greater than just speed, the breadth of labs looking to automate has increased dramatically. 

Simplifying workflow 

It is estimated that as a manual process, pre-analytic phase alone consumes 60% time and effort in the total workflow and amounts to 30% - 86% of the total laboratory error. Lab automation plays an essential part in performing these actions that require high precision and accuracy and has proved extremely useful in eliminating human error. Pathologists are now able to use new tools, instruments and systems for conducting the pre and post analytic work and analyze results.

Enhancing lab efficiency

While automation may sound like a threat to job security, especially in our country; laboratories see it as an opportunity to put their human resources to more effective use. Using smaller, user-friendly systems to automate routine, tedious tasks can not only enhance reproducibility and eliminate user error, but also boost morale and productivity by allowing pathologists and technicians to analyze more data. So in a mass screening camp, when labs receive a pool of samples, automation can help draw out a huge amount of data for analyzing the disease trends. Furthermore, the emergence of automation has enabled healthcare companies to automate vital procedures in R&D and diagnostic procedures, enabling healthcare companies to meet regulatory compliance.

Automation extends its footprints to different segments

While the fields of clinical chemistry and hematology were the first to be automated, there is now a distinct increase in automated workstations for cellular assays including ELISA panels. Considering the rise in infectious diseases in India, automation of ELISA platforms provides for a more efficient turn-around time especially in the testing of early lead candidates for safety profiling. This obviously, brings down the cost of a basic technology like ELISA, especially in the rural areas. Microbiology has followed suit with the arrival of fully automated platforms that automate the entire workflow with one system. Areas such as molecular diagnostics and anatomic pathology are most likely to follow soon.

Big or small, automation for one and all!

While so far the focus has been on highlighting high-throughput automation platforms for the larger labs, and how it helps contain costs for bulk diagnosis, it is worthwhile to note that even laboratories with limited budgets can invest in automation and reap benefits. To meet this demand, manufacturers have responded with smaller, modular workstations and bench-top systems that are easy to program and are more flexible in the types of operations. Additionally, older instrument platforms that are in use, can be upgraded with hardware or software to expand the range of capabilities. So companies that don’t have the capital budget to invest in full-fledged automation, can still meet economies of scale. Interestingly, there is a growing demand in APAC for small platforms or proven bench-top systems and technologies.

 The convergence of the different disciplines of laboratory medicine will allow automation to expand and connect to all the parts of the lab. With all odds in favour, it will be interesting to see how lab automation can contribute towards Government’s ‘Health for All’ initiative.

Sources:

https://www.labmanager.com/business-management/2017/11/going-automated-lessons-from-lab-professionals-who-have-made-the-leap#.XBIlzoszYdU
https://www.europeanpharmaceuticalreview.com/article/672/lab-automation-roundtable/
https://www.medlabme.com/magazine/en/technology-articles/automation-on-the-move.html
https://indiamedtoday.com/automation-in-clinical-laboratory-is-gaining-pace-in-india/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-laboratory-automation-systems-market-to-reach-9-55-billion-by-2026--300649503.html

https://www.ccs.gr/products/medilab/total-laboratory-automation/

Authored by:

Mr. Amit Sehgal, 
President- Sales, Marketing & Services, 

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