E-Paper
NMMC’s RT-PCR lab touches 50K test mark
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation-run RT-PCR lab in Nerul, which was started on August 4, has successfully conducted 50,000 tests.
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation-run RT-PCR lab in Nerul, which was started on August 4, has successfully conducted 50,000 tests.
The process of obtaining government permission for setting up the lab and procuring all the necessary mechanisms required for testing was completed within 11 days. The lab was started at Nerul’s Masaheb Meenatai Thackeray Hospital.
As on November 2, around 50,363 Covid tests have been done in this lab. After Abhijit Bangar took over as the commissioner of NMMC on July 14, in the very first press conference, he announced the corporation’s plan to start its own RT-PCR lab.
Till then, NMMC had to rely on government-appointed labs or private labs for Covid-19 tests.
Mahendra Konde, public relations officer of NMMC, said, “The government-appointed lab was burdened with tests of other cities as well, which delayed reports and there was resentment from citizens of Navi Mumbai. In view of this situation, the Rapid Antigen Test, which provided a test report within half-an-hour was launched on July 16.”
The lab has a capacity to test 1,000 samples per day and is said to the most up-to-date lab in the entire MMR.
Bangar added, “In mission ‘Break the Chain’, the emphasis was on the three principles of ‘trace, test and treat’. In order to increase the number of tests required for this, along with the antigen test, the corporation needed its own RT-PCR. The best and most up-to-date equipment was chosen for the lab.”
The lab conducts tests 24 hours, not just for Navi Mumbai but also for neighbouring Panvel and Thane as well, informed Konde.
