Labs in short supply

Although a simple blood test can be done to check the presence of lead in the body, there are very few labs that have this facility.

In Karnataka, there are only four labs — Anand, St. Johns’s, Baptist and Kanva — that can conduct this test and all of them are in Bengaluru.

The NRCLPI — that has set up 36 lead-screening facilities in the country — has urged the State government to start a counter in every government hospital. According to the Centre for Disease Control in the U.S. (CDC), the permissible level of lead in children should be less than 3 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood (ìg/dL).