Punjab cabinet nod for 4 more labs to ramp up Covid testing capacity

MEDICAL INFRA PUSH: To hire 131 employees to run these facilities; also approves filling of 300 ad hoc posts in medical education department

The Punjab cabinet on Monday approved setting up of four new Covid-19 laboratories in the state with a view to ramping up the daily testing capacity from the current 9,000 to 13,000.

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Also, the cabinet in a meeting chaired by chief minister Amarinder Singh gave the go-ahead to recruit 131 employees to run these laboratories that will come up at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana; Punjab State Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Mohali; Northern Regional Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar; and Punjab Biotechnology Incubator, Mohali.

At present, viral research and diagnostic laboratories in three Government Medical Colleges at Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot are conducting coronavirus tests in the state.

The cabinet also cleared the proposal of the medical education and research department to create and fill four posts of assistant professor (microbiology) on ad hoc basis in the new viral testing laboratories.

Besides, approval was given fill to 300 ad hoc posts in the medical education department, 100 each in the three government-run medical colleges to handle the critical patients of Covid-19. Directions were given for an expeditious recruitment of medical and technical staff as well.

Regular faculty for

Bathinda vet college

The cabinet also decided to fill all vacancies as per the regulations of the Veterinary Council of India (VCI) for the Veterinary College, Rampura Phul (Bathinda), to ensure its optimal functioning. This move would lead to regular appointments of a dean, 17 professors and 23 associate professors on full salary by the academic year 2022-23.

New chemical lab

in Jalandhar

To bring down the pendency of reports of samples of viscera, blood alcohol, etc in the chemical examiner laboratory, Kharar, the cabinet accorded approval to establish a new chemical laboratory in Jalandhar, with creation of 21 posts involving annual financial liability of ₹42.31 lakh.