E-Paper
Jalandhar to get region’s first Covid-19 testing lab soon
Facility at Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory to start work by this weekend after ICMR approval
Jalandhar: The department of medical education, Punjab, is all set to start the first Covid-19 testing laboratory at the Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar by the end of this week.
Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur and animal husbandry department director Dr Inderjit Singh visited Jalandhar on Sunday to inspect the setting up of the laboratory.
Confirming the development, laboratory deputy director Dr Harwinder Singh Kahlon said that the Punjab government had been exploring the possibility of setting up the Covid-19 testing facility in Jalandhar.
“Four of our doctors are going to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot for the training in Covid-19 testing from Monday,” he said.
During a recent video conference attended by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, state medical education minister OP Soni, state medical education principal secretary DK Tiwari and BFUHS vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur, the state’s testing targets till June 30 were discussed.
A senior medical education department official said that during the video-conference, the chief minister was keen on a testing lab in Jalandhar from where numerous cases of coronavirus have been reported. The officials assured him that they had already taken the department of animal husbandry on board for setting up a lab on their premises in Jalandhar.
The official said that there is a strong possibility that the opportunity to procure equipment drafted by the department of medical education will also be given to the lab. Work is expected to start by the end of this week after the ICMR’s approval.
