Hematology laboratory standardization: a plan for harmonization in Asia

Hematology laboratory is generally required in the hospital. At the macroscale, hematology laboratories have served a large number of population. In Asia, more than 3,000 million people are potentially to use the hematology laboratory service, particularly the complete blood count. Since 1970s, automated technology has been introduced to Asia and as years passed by, technology diversity is increasing. However, there are considerable number of hematology laboratories that have no automated machine. They are still relied on manual technology which is still variable in spectrophotometer for hemoglobin determination, centrifuge for hematocrit and diluting pipet for cell counting. In particular, blood smear preparation and interpretation are very difficult to control for standardization from person to person and laboratory to laboratory. Different methodology and a large population in the huge geographical area in Asia, the agreement of standard criteria is greatly important. This report has shown strategy and action plan to reach the goal of hematology laboratory standardization in Asia.