District admin makes it mandatory for labs to use RT-PCR mobile app

Gurugram:

Gurugram:

HT Image

The district administration on Friday made it mandatory for sample collectors and testing labs to use the RT-PCR mobile application approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to streamline data collection and ensure that the information pertaining to the sampling of Covid-19 patients is collected on a real-time basis.

The decision comes after health authorities and the district administration found that testing centres and labs were not able to collate information accurately, leading to discrepancies in ascertaing the exact number of Covid-19 infections.

Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, Gurugram issued a direction, stating that it would be mandatory for all registered sample collection centres and testing labs to use the RT-PCR application on an immediate basis. “This application is meant to be used by sample collectors to enter the details of the sample being collected for Covid-19 RT-PCR test.” The RT-PCR or the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction test is used in detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes coronavirus disease or Covid-19.

The district administration has also directed that all sample collectors will have to fill in the information about the patients on the application, which will help in centralised information collection. In another related decision, the testing labs have also been asked to obtain permanent address proof from suspected patients and check the mobile numbers before the collection of samples.

This comes after a number of Covid-19 patients shared wrong addresses with authorities, which made it quite difficult for patients to be traced, said officials.

The labs will also have to save a copy of the permanent address proof of the patients at the time of sample collection.

.