Dear Editor,
Today I felt (perhaps incorrectly) a bit cheated by a medical lab in Georgetown, which I had visited to ask about its cholesterol testing service. The receptionist responded by asking whether I had fasted. I hadn’t of course, because I was only seeking information, but she proceeded to process a cholesterol test request, the cost of which was $2,500. I don’t recall if I asked, but the receptionist certainly did not offer me the option of a fasting blood test.
After the blood sample was taken however, I did ask the phlebotomist about the difference between fasting and non-fasting cholesterol blood tests. (In England, I was always told to fast but I had never asked why it was important).
My understanding of what the phlebotomist said was that the non-fasting blood test would not reveal the relative levels of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol, but would only indicate whether the overall cholesterol level was ‘high’ or ‘low.’
When I pressed her she couldn’t say what the usefulness of the latter information was.
Could you please ask a representative of the medical labs in Guyana or even a medical practitioner for some public-interest information on the usefulness of a non-fasting cholesterol blood test? Perhaps that person would also mention why this test is offered at all, and whether it would not be better to tell people, many of whom might be poor, that a non-fasting test is not the same as a fasting test.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas B. Singh