Dr Lal PathLabs to start mobile Covid testing units

Dr Lal PathLabs, one of the leading private diagnostic laboratory networks in India, will soon start mobile units for testing people for the coronavirus disease

Dr Lal PathLabs, one of the leading private diagnostic laboratory networks in India, will soon start mobile units for testing people for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). It is one of 65 private laboratories across the country that have been approved by country’s apex biomedical research organisation, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to test for Covid-19.

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“We are setting up mobile testing units. The process is currently on to make it happen, and it should start in a week or so,” said Dr Vandana Lal, whole-time director, Dr Lal PathLabs. “We have to look for safer options. In other countries, telephone booth type set-ups are used, where only the technician’s arm sticks out while testing a suspect. In these mobile units, which will be going door-to-door, only the arm of the person testing will stick out. And since the patients will not be driving around the city to get tested, this option is safer,” she added.

After a private laboratory in Delhi started a drive-through Covid-19 testing site, the ICMR came out with a detailed advisory on drive-through testing of Covid-19 patients. Delhi-based Dr Dangs Lab became India’s first Covid-19 testing laboratory to have started a drive-through sample collection site in its centre at West Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh area.

The ICMR’s new advisory on sample collection said safety measures must be strictly followed. “The ICMR has no objection to the adoption of establishing convenient sample collection sites (drive-through centres for sample collection, etc.) by the respective State governments. However, the following advice is provided by the ICMR: the sample collection should be done using recommended personal protective equipment; these sites should be disinfected regularly as per recommended procedures; all recommended biosafety and biosecurity precautions should be implemented; sample transport to the nearest Covid-19 testing laboratory should be ensured under proper cold-chain conditions and with triple-layered packing,” the advisory read.

“All our staff is well trained, and knows how to manage the testing modalities,” said Lal. In all, 139 government and 65 private labs are testing for Covid-19 in India. To date, 121,271 samples have been tested in government labs, and 2,267 samples have been tested in private laboratories, of which 5,872 samples have tested positive. India has seen 178 deaths related to Covid-19. Since the numbers are rising, the ICMR is preparing to scale up their testing capacity and bring it up to one-lakh tests a day, if required.