This story is from April 7, 2020

Covid-19 labs at GMCH Ngp & Akola await ICMR nod

Covid-19 labs at GMCH Ngp & Akola await ICMR nod
Nagpur: The new Covid-19 testing laboratories at Government Medical Colleges and Hospital (GMCH) at Nagpur and Akola can’t start functioning as Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is yet to grant its approval to them.
According to a senior bureaucrat, the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) were ready at both GMCHs and their proposal was sent to ICMR along with the lab at AIIMS Nagpur.
The AIIMS laboratory got the approval from ICMR last week but proposals of both Nagpur and Akola are still pending.
City administration wants both laboratories opened as early as possible in the wake of huge pendency of samples testing. The problem worsened due to technical snag at Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital’s (IGGMCH) lab. This lab used to receive samples from all districts of Vidarbha, apart from neighbouring states.
“Thankfully, AIIMS lab received approval just at the time and samples are being tested there. Since Covid-19 patients and suspects are increasing each passing day, the city urgently needs more testing facilities. Even World Health Organisation (WHO) has strongly recommended more testing to contain the virus,” they said.
Divisional commissioner Sanjeev Kumar informed the snag at IGGMCH lab had been repaired by Mumbai technicians. “The snag was only for one day and now the testing has been resumed there. With starting of AIIMS facility, we have two laboratories and testing rate has doubled,” he said.
Amravati divisional commissioner Piyush Singh told TOI VRDL at Akola GMCH was also ready and awaiting ICMR nod. “We were told to send all samples from out five districts to AIIMS. Accordingly, we sent 267 which are pending there. The reports are likely to come by Tuesday,” he said.
On March 23, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and collector filed their affidavits with Nagpur bench of Bombay high court stating the government would be starting facilities at GMCHs of Nagpur and Akola soon. Based on their affidavits, the court had asked the government to set up similar facilities at GMCHs of Yavatmal, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli too.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA