Kumudesh on mixing politics, economics and Mafias into milk powder

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Kumudesh on mixing politics, economics and Mafias into milk powder

The Health Services Trade Union convened a media briefing on Thursday to explain the present situation that has arisen regarding milk powder.

Co-Chairperson of Health Services Trade Union, Ravi Kumudesh shared these following views

“There were no reports when arrests were made relating to Botulinum in Milk or the Botulinum poisonous agent. There are many institutions that are attached to the Ministry of Health for this purpose. Despite possessing all the necessary facilities, a ban was imposed on these dairy products without confirming anything. Investigations were conducted after imposing a ban. When the ban came into effect, an unidentified Mafia took measures to create unrest within the general public by transforming this into a serious problem.

However today, a responsible institution, the Medical Research Institution, consisting of high ranking officials, specialists and trained individuals, which incidentally belongs to the Ministry of Health confirmed that not a single sample contained traces of Clostirium. It has been days since the test proved today. One can say that drinking fresh milk is better. 

Similarly, one can say that it is better to live in the jungle. These are personal opinions of people. But the consumer in this country should have the freedom to decide what to eat or drink. If the Ministry of Health or anyone else is responsible for it, then facts should be proven scientifically instead of mixing economic, political or other policies into it. That is wrong. I cannot ask the general public to accept my policy."

Health trade union confederation finds fault with Technology Ministry

September 13, 2013, 7:54 am - By Dilanthi Jayamanne

The Health Service Trade Union Confederation (HSTUC) yesterday accused the Ministry of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy (MTRAE) of interfering in the affairs of the Health Ministry by carrying out DCD tests on imported milk powder.

Addressing an emergency Press Conference, HSTUC Joint Chairman Ravi Kumudesh alleged that the Minister of MTRAE and the Industrial Technological Institute (ITI) had flouted the authority of the Health Ministry by meddling with matters which were not under its purview.

The ITI first said that it was unable to conduct the tests for the dangerous agro chemical dicyandiamide (DCD) which resulted in the Health Ministry being forced to seek assistance from a laboratory facility in Thailand. The test results proved negative.

Kumudesh said that the ITI had received the necessary piece of equipment for testing DCD by then. Tests were carried out from market samples while the results were not handed over to the Ministry of Health but to a trade union in the health sector. Kumudesh alleged that it had been highly unethical of the Minister of MTRAE and the ITI to overlook the authority of the Health Ministry in favour of a trade union.

The annoyed Joint President said that the action showed the lack of faith in the capabilities of the Health Ministry and its affiliated institutions. It also undermined the authority of the Health Minister. He urged the two ministries to formulate a proper system through which all parties concerned could toe the line together rather than one trying to override the other’s authority.

Meanwhile the HSTUC Joint President said that the Ministry should take immediate steps to release the second report which had been submitted by the ITI on imported milk powder which was allegedly contaminated with DCD.

The ITI submitted its first report, on July 26 in which batches of several imported milk powder samples had tested positive for the agro chemical. However a second report had been issued on the 2nd of this month. It revealed that one batch of milk powder which had tested positive the first time had tested negative when tests had been carried out on the same batch of a sample of the same brand of milk powder. The result had also been submitted to the Health Ministry which it had failed to release to the Public, he added.

However Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said recently that no stone would be left unturned to protect the country’s children. The ITI did not have the required equipment when the Health Ministry approached it first but later on the required items were made available for testing.

"Although neither the ITI nor the WHO had been able to assess the extent of the harm that could be caused by the agro chemical, the government is not prepared to allow the children of this country to be used as guinea pigs," he added

Latest in Haematology analysers 

Fluorescence Flow Cytometry

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Haematology has evolved into an interesting subject due to the advanced technology. Also, over the past few years, the market penetration of Haematology analysers has increased significantly in laboratories across the country. 

The latest technology in haematology analysers is Fluorescence Flow Cytometry (FCM) the term "cytometry" is defined as a measurement of physicochemical properties of cells and other biological particles. Flow cytometry offers measurements of cells and other particles flowing in thin streams. Generally, it detects optical information from cells or other particles flowing in a thin stream under irradiation of a laser beam. Such optical information sources include scattered light and fluorescence depending on the measurement objective.

Since the late 1990s, cell counter manufacturers have been looking at flow cytometry techniques as a way of increasing the capabilities of cell counters as traditional flow cytometry instrumentation requires the use of highly specific antigen-antibody reactions; requiring pre-incubation and use of expensive reagents. In addition, gating of cell scattergram is complex which is manually performed by skilled operator, complexities of the reagents used, requirements of manual pipetting and not all applications are automated.

Haematology analysers with FCM use florescence dye to stain all sampled cells, increasing specificity and extension of clinical applications beyond the realm of traditional cell counting, without the complexity and cost of antigen/antibody reactions.

Recently,ingenious Fluorescence Flow Cytometry (FCM) Technology platform is introduced in mid-size haematology analysers, which was successfully introduced with top-of-the-end haematology analysers. These analysers with FCM offer excellent capabilities of best differentiation of normal cells and pathological cells; and interference is managed better than before and that also without compromising throughput and reliability.

The major benefit of FCM to its users is improved detection of pathological cells like Immature Granulocyte Count, High Fluorescence Lymphocyte Count, Abnormal Lymphocyte Detection. The other advantage is improved quality of five part differential of WBC with 48-72 hours stability after blood collection and that also for High linear ranges (no dilution necessary). It has a stable and long life detector system requiring no calibration.

As depicted in the image of Optical System of haematology analysers with FCM, it detects each cell from three angles:

•  Forward Scattered Light (Information on Cell Volume).
• Side Scattered Light (Information on Internal Cell structure).
•  Side Fluorescence Light (Information on RNA/DNA content).

Fluorescence Light detects DNA/RNA information of cells along with information about Cell activity such as:

•  Duplication activity of the nucleus (High RNA).
•  Cytoplasm activity (Protein synthesis).

This information is useful for very good differentiation of mature and immature cells. With the use of artificial intelligence based complex computer algorithm, this differentiation is plotted as easy to interpret scattergram by the haematology analysers.

Hence, FCM enables haematology analysers to differentiate not only mature WBCs, but also mature and immature WBCs. By staining the cells, analytical sensitivity of cell counter is enhanced and signal-to-noise ratio is increased. Reportable ranges are extended and interferences are reduced. FCM enables Haematology analysers are now able give more detailed IP messages and suspect messages like Neutropenia, Neutrophilia, Lymphopenia, Lymphocytosis, Monocytosis, Eosinophilia, Basophilia, Leukocytopenia, Leukocytosis, NRBC Present, Blasts?, Immature Gran?, Left Shift?, Abn Lympho/L_Blasts?, lymphocytes, NRBC?, RBC Lyse Resistance?, Atypical Lympho?, Anisocytosis, Microcytosis, Macrocytosis, Hypochromia, Anemia, Erythrocytosis and Reticulocytosis.

They are also able to analyse special parameters like Florescence Platelet (PLT-FL), immature Granulocytes (IG), Nucleated Red Blood Cell (NRBC), Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells (HPC), Reticulocyte, Immature Reticulocyte Fraction (IRF), Reticulocyte Hemoglobin (RET-He), Immature Platelet Fraction (IPF). Analysis of these parameters give insight in to bone marrow erythropoietic activity, timing for apheresis in peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, clinical information of peripheral platelet destruction and marrow failure in thrombocytopenic patients.

Sri Lanka Society for Medical Laboratory Science

kumudeshr@gmail.com / 0094773077717

DCD and Botulinam Milk product Mafia at News First

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