Finally, Yavatmal and Chandrapur get Covid labs

Chandrapur/Yavatmal: In a major boost to the fight against Covid-19, Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at Chandrapur and Yavatmal were approved on Wednesday.
While the lab at Yavatmal has started testing Covid samples from Wednesday itself, the Chandrapur lab will become operational on Thursday.
The lab at Yavatmal was inaugurated on Wednesday by district guardian minister Sanjay Rathod.
Now, only Bhandara, Buldhana and Gadchiroli districts in the region are without the Covid testing lab as these districts do not have medical college. The lab at Gondia has been approved and it is expected to be functional in a day or two.
Chandrapur GMCH dean Dr SS Morey said trial tests on newly-installed RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) machine were carried out in the last two days and All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Nagpur has formally granted approval to start the testing.
The RT-PCR machine imported from Singapore can perform around 200 tests per day. However, as per the instructions of the supplier company, initially around 50 tests would be carried out for next few days and later the machine would be put to its full capacity functioning, said Dr Morey.
Earlier, Chandrapur GMCH had installed CBNAAT (cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test) machine at the laboratory to carry out antigen-based test for Covid-19 during the second week of May.
Complying with the government orders, the RT-PCR machine meant for Chandrapur was handed over to Jalgaon Covid-19 lab in the third week of May owing to higher coronavirus contagion there.
Health department has now handed over the RT-PCR machine supplied to Nanded laboratory to Chandrapur.
For Yavatmal lab, equipments were brought from Singapore for which the minister had sanctioned Rs3.50 crore. The order for the procurement was placed through Pune-based Haffkine Institute headed by Dr Rajesh Deshmukh, who had earlier worked as Yavatmal collector.
The lab can test 125-150 swab samples daily apart from testing other epidemic diseases like HIV, chikungunya, dengue etc.
The lab is under the microbiology department and the concerned staffers, including doctors, have already been trained at AIIMS Nagpur.
Addressing a small gathering at the GMCH Yavatmal, the minister said that with the commissioning of the lab here, the city will not have to depend on other labs for getting test reports.
The lab is under the microbiology department and the concerned staffers, including doctors, have already been trained at AIIMS Nagpur.
Dean Dr RP Singh delivered introductory remarks while the HoD of microbiology Dr Gujar proposed the vote of thanks.