Covid-19:Bihar to expand testing facility to four more hospitals, no positive case in 24 hours - Hindustan Times
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Covid-19:Bihar to expand testing facility to four more hospitals, no positive case in 24 hours

Hindustan Times, Patna | By
Apr 07, 2020 12:35 PM IST

The new testing facility could soon be started at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna, and three state government medical college hospitals at Bhagalpur, Gaya and Muzaffarpur.

Though Bihar has so far apparently been able to contain COVID-19 spread, with no positive case out of the 537 samples tested in the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Monday and 28 districts reporting no positive cases at all, the state government is gearing up to expand its testing facilities to more hospitals to be ready for any future challenges post lockdown.

Police personnel distribute meals to the homeless, on Day 6 of the 21 day nationwide lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus, at Frazer Road in Patna, Bihar, India on Monday March 30, 2020.(Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times)
Police personnel distribute meals to the homeless, on Day 6 of the 21 day nationwide lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus, at Frazer Road in Patna, Bihar, India on Monday March 30, 2020.(Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times)

The new testing facility could soon be started at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna, and three state government medical college hospitals at Bhagalpur, Gaya and Muzaffarpur.

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Principal secretary, department of health, Sanjay Kumar, said the government had already written to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) regarding this and the facilities would be started once the approval was granted.

On the possibility of using rapid antibody-based blood tests for COVID-19, the principal secretary said it was under the government’s consideration, though it had certain efficacy issues. “So far, the need for it has not been felt, but we will consider it,” he said.

Kumar said the results of rapid test kits could be misleading. “Sometimes, it could give negative test reports of a COVID-19 positive patient also and if that person moves around freely, it could be dangerous, as many a time it takes time before symptoms get apparent,” he said.

In view of risk potential for community spread of virus in vulnerable areas and limited capability of testing with PCR (polymerace chain reaction) kits, Bihar has already extended the facility to three of its premier hospitals – Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

Testing facilities are likely to be extended to AIIMS (Patna), Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (Gaya), Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (Bhagalpur) and Shrikishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur.

AIIMS (Patna) director PK Singh said that the testing facility was likely to be started in a week’s time. “Some desired equipment is on way. It may take some time. So far, we have treated 80 suspected COVID-19 cases here, but only two were positive,” he said.

Earlier, union minister of state for health Ashwini Choubey had said that efforts were under way to start testing facilities at AIIMS (Patna) at the earliest. Once AIIMS testing facility also gets functional, all the four medical college hospitals in the state capital will have the capability.

Till 10 am on Monday, Bihar carried out 3,545 tests, with 28 active positive cases spread across 10 of the 38 districts in the state. The emphasis is on quarantine of suspected cases. At present, 7163 rooms, including 4012 with attached bathrooms, are available at 2018 functional quarantine centres, though the number of persons admitted is 870 only.

“The government is constantly monitoring the situation. All we want is that people with any symptoms should come forward for testing and treatment, which may not include hospitalization in all the cases. Most people with symptoms and travel history will only need to follow the guidelines at isolation centres or at homes for their own good and that of their family members and society. People are cooperating,” Kumar said.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Arun Kumar is Senior Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times. He has spent two-and-half decades covering Bihar, including politics, educational and social issues.

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