by Donna Korchinski

NetNews Inc.

Calgary - CLS is Calgary Laboratory Services which conducts the largest part of the medical laboratory business in the Calgary region. It manages and controls laboratories in the four main public hospitals, 24 collection sites in and around Calgary, as well as a "high volume" laboratory. It is a partnership between the Calgary Regional Health Authority (CRHA) and MDS/Kasper, a for-profit entity. Exactly how CLS came to be, whatever happened around boardroom tables in its early planning days may never be known. But in part three of this series on Laboratory Medicine in the Calgary region, NetNews provides a sketch of the beginnings of CLS with a collection of confidential and public documents. NetNews has also interviewed a consultant who was hired by the CRHA before CLS came into being. He says he had "great apprehensions" about the "experiment" known as CLS.

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Part Four of LABORATORY MEDICINE - Overcrowding - a compromise of safety?

Part Five of LABORATORY MEDICINE - Patient Service - a story of frustration