Costing of a salt iodine monitoring laboratory in India.

BACKGROUND. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) are an important public health problem in India and can be prevented by fortifying common salt with iodine. For the iodation programme to be effective, it is necessary to monitor the iodine content of salt. The National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme recommends that one salt iodine monitoring laboratory should be set up in each district. We calculated the cost of setting up such a laboratory in the year 1993. METHODS. We estimated that approximately 6000 samples of salt would be sent annually by health workers to the district laboratory as part of the routine report system. We calculated the capital cost of the laboratory to include land, buildings and equipment. The recurrent costs included salaries, chemicals and reagents, and maintenance assuming a uniform discount of 10%. RESULTS. A total of Rs 81,550 would be needed for one such laboratory annually, of which Rs 73,500 (89%) would be recurrent costs. This comes to Rs 13.60 per sample tested or 5 paise per head per year in a district with an average population of 1.7 million. If the building is already available and the staff in position only need to be trained, then Rs 16,040 per year (equipment, chemicals and operating costs) would be required. This comes to 1 paise per head per year. CONCLUSIONS. Setting up a salt iodine monitoring laboratory, a vital component for the salt iodation programme, has modest cost implications, especially if the building and staff already exist. This is likely to be the case in most of the districts.