Access to affordable diagnostic testing is important in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where public financing of care is limited and out-of- pocket payment for diagnostic tests is often the norm. This study gives information on the top 25 tests by volume and revenue in 4 LMICs and one high income country. As per the findings of this study, despite the differences in health systems, local epidemiology, practice patterns, and resources, there are strong similarities in laboratory test utilization patterns across five hospitals in countries with very different levels of per capita income.
Thank you for sharing this paper, Mikashmi. This preliminary study should trigger interest in other countries, especially in LMICs, to plan and implement their own study so they can use results for policy development (or enhancement) in terms of the diagnostic capacity of its own national laboratory networks. Other than that, it is also a way to support that EDL reflects actual scenarios in the field.
In the future, it would be interesting to conduct studies that will use the actual results of this data in the development of national laboratory plans. How specifically will these data be utilized will be of great value to laboratory program managers from the national to local levels. I would appreciate if you could share studies as they become available.