Mass screening for sickle cell disease is  very much needed. A screening test should be cheap, easy to perform, less cumbersome and should have high sensitivity, low specificity is accepted. TOT (turn over time, meaning time taken for a single cycle of test, this excludes time taken for sample collection) should be short.

Solubility test is good enough but it is not regularly done for its low sensitivity and specificity. Sickling test needs trained microscopist/ technician. TOT is also long, up to 24 hrs. Agarose gel electrophoresis is an art, needs good technician, costly, instrumentation, consumables, TOT is long, and cannot differentiate between HB S,C,D disease in alkalinep^H.  Cellulose acetate electrophoresis is similar to agaroe gel but much more costlier than agarose   gel. HPLC is a costly affair not suitable in indian scenario.

With some modifications, (Modified )  Solubility Test   corrects the fallacies of normal solubility test.

Keywords--- Mass Screening. Modifie Solubility Test, Solubility Test. Sickling Test, Electrophoresis, HPLC.

Dr Satyabrata Patra, MD (Pathology)