DOH orders proficiency tests for personnel of drug centers

Personnel of drug-testing centers, under the supervision of the Department of Health (DOH), will now be required to undergo proficiency tests to check their competence.

Lawyer Nick Lutero, director of DOH’s Bureau of Health Facilities and Services, said the requirement is one of the "substantial changes" that the department is putting in place in the government’s reinvigorated drug-testing program.

"We want to ensure that the laboratory staff are fit for the job. The proficiency tests will check on their competence," he said.

The DOH will take over the supervision of the drug-testing centers from the Dangerous Drugs Board and the Land Transportation Office anytime this month by virtue of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 or the Republic Act 7165.

To ensure quality drug testing, the DOH came up with new accreditation standards that drug screening laboratories must need or face closure.

From January to March, the DOH had inspected 1,053 drug-testing clinics and found out that 90 percent of them were not complying with the earlier standards, particularly on keeping manual of operations.

According to Lutero, the DOH also wanted all clinics to be headed by physicians "who have knowledge of laboratory management." At present, even pharmacists, chemists or chemical engineers are allowed to head these facilities.

Lutero added that such move will help professionalize drug testing in the country.

The other requirement that the DOH wants to impose is for all clinics to have their "manuals of operations" that will guide laboratory personnel on how they should examine specimens.

During the inspections, the DOH found out that majority of the laboratories did not have their own manuals, putting in question how they were running the clinics.

"We’ll do our best to ensure the credibility and quality of drug testing. We have been talking with the concerned people about the standards and we want this program to go on smoothly," Lutero said.