News Excerpt: 

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun revising the current National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL).

About National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL)

• Essential diagnostic tests are defined as those "that satisfy the priority healthcare needs of the population and are selected with due regard to disease prevalence and public health relevance, evidence of efficacy and accuracy, and comparative cost-effectiveness”.
• In 2018, the World Health Organisation recommended the development and implementation of an NEDL to facilitate the availability of in-vitro diagnostics across the various tiers of the healthcare pyramid, in facilities with or without an onsite laboratory. 
  • ICMR then released India’s first NEDL in 2019 to make the availability of diagnostics an essential component of the healthcare system.
• The NEDL lists the essential and most basic tests that should be available at various levels of healthcare facilities in the country, including at the village level, in sub-health centres, health and wellness centres, and primary health centres.
• The inclusion of diagnostic tests in the NEDL was based on careful consideration of the disease burden data across different States of India, alignment with national programs and adherence to Indian public health standards 2022.
• To improve health infrastructure and services in public health facilities, the government has laid down Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) 2022. These standards include norms for services, infrastructure, human resources, diagnostics, equipment, medicines etc.

National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL) 2019

• It aimed to bridge the then regulatory system’s gap that did not cover all the medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic devices (IVD).

• With this list, India had become the first country to compile such a list that would guide the government in deciding the kind of diagnostic tests that different healthcare facilities in villages and remote areas require.

• The list was meant for facilities from the village to the district level.

• Even though WHO’s Essential Diagnostics List (EDL) 2018 acted as a reference point for the development of the NEDL, India’s diagnostics list has been customised and prepared as per the landscape of India’s healthcare priorities.
• It enabled improved health care services delivery through evidence-based care, improved patient outcomes and reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure; effective utilisation of public health facilities; effective assessment of disease burden, disease trends, surveillance, and outbreak identification; and address antimicrobial resistance crisis too.

Recent updates on NEDL

• The ICMR has invited relevant stakeholders to suggest adding or deleting diagnostic tests to the current list by the end of February. 
• The suggestions must be based on factors such as how essential a test is, the disease burden, and the alignment with Indian public health standards before proposing any additional tests to the existing list.