The opening of a national tuberculosis laboratory to provide coast-to-coast service in testing tuberculosis cultures for drug sensitivity marked a clear step ahead in the combat against the disease in Canada. The National Tuberculosis Reference Centre began operation in late 1968 at the Royal Ottawa Sanatorium, under the leadership of Dr. Leslie Eidus who has a long and distinguished record in the field of tuberculosis treatment and control. The Centre aimed to provide uniform standards in testing for resistance to the anti-tuberculosis drugs. Tuberculosis treatment centres in all parts of Canada were now able to send TB cultures to Ottawa for analysis. Recommendations are then sent back and the pertinent details go on file for reference in future cases. The NTRC was built as a part of the Laboratory of Hygiene of the Department of National Health and Welfare. It was established on the recommendation of the Third National Tuberculosis Conference held in 1966 under the joint auspices of Department of National Health and Welfare and the Canadian Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association.

Citizens of Vancouver come out to be x-rayed at a mobile x-ray unit during Operation Doorstep, mass survey in the 1960s. Samples taken during community surveys such as this may have been sent to the National Reference Centre for reading and recording.