Centre for AIDS and Related Diseases

Full Mailing Address:

CENTRE FOR AIDS AND RELATED DISEASES (CA&RD),
National Centre for Disease Control,
22- Sham Nath Marg, Delhi – 110054.
Telephone Number-23909327

Head of the Division:

Dr. Manju Bala
Additional Director & HOD
MBBS, MD (Microbiology), PhD
Email ID- nrl.nicd@gmail.com

*Other Officers in the Division

Dr. Simrita Singh
Joint Director
MBBS, MD (Microbiology)

Dr. Aarti Tewari
Deputy Director
MBBS, MD (Microbiology)

Dr. Bibhash Nandi
Deputy Director
MBBS, MD (Microbiology)

*Details of Staff in the Division

 Workshop on EQAS for HIV for Technical Officers and Lab Technicians of 13 State Reference Labs, organized by CA&RD

 Poster Making Competition on the eve of World AIDS Day

 1. Laboratories/ units under the Division:

• Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre
• National Reference Laboratory for HIV
• Immunology Laboratory
• STD and Opportunistic Infections Laboratory
• HIV Serology Laboratory
• Blood Collection Centre
• HIV-2 Referral Laboratory

Officers in Charge of above Labs/Units: Dr. Aarti Tewari & Dr. Bibhash Nandi

 2. Mandate of the Division:

• The Centre provides HIV counseling and testing services to the walk-in clients, both provider-initiated and client-initiated.
• It is one of the 13 National Reference Laboratories (NRL) for HIV testing under the aegis of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).
• The NRL is linked with 13 State Reference Laboratories (SRLs) in the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir for External Quality Assessment Scheme (EQAS) for HIV testing and for confirmation of HIV serostatus of all samples with indeterminate / discordant results by Western Blot test.
• The NRL is a part of a Consortium of Kit Quality Testing Laboratories across India, with a mission to develop a national system for assuring Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTI) test quality by a consortium with uniform approaches and procedures.
• The labs and units of the Centre participate in EQAS activities for HIV testing & CD4 count estimation and syphilis testing conducted by NARI Pune and VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital respectively.
• CARD functions as a NACO designated Referral Laboratory for HIV-2 confirmation.
• Under HIV Sentinel Surveillance, the Centre is involved in HIV testing of Dried Blood Spot (DBS) samples and performing Quality Control testing of samples received from various Sentinel Sites in North India where the specimens are tested for four biomarkers i.e., HIV, Syphilis, HBV, and HCV.
• Absolute CD4 count and CD4 percentage estimation of HIV positive samples.
• Testing for Syphilis by RPR and TPHA.
• Capacity building activities at the Centre involve conducting EQAS Workshops for staff of linked SRLs, IEC activities for HIV/AIDS awareness.
• Provides technical support to the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).

 3. Achievements:

• The Centre achieved NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accreditation in the field of medical testing in the year 2011 and is obtaining its renewal from NABL every two years as per ISO 15189:2012.
• The National Reference Lab (NRL) at CARD is carrying out the preparation, maintenance and biannual distribution of proficiency testing (PT) panels for HIV serology to 13 SRLs and to their linked ICTCs in the states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir to ensure quality HIV testing.
• The NRL has successfully conducted workshops on EQAS for HIV Testing for Lab Technicians and Technical Officers of linked SRLs annually.