Govt nod for 19 more coronavirus testing facilities across state

The Central government on Thursday granted permission to start coronavirus testing facilities at eight private laboratories and 11 government institutions across

The Central government on Thursday granted permission to start coronavirus testing facilities at eight private laboratories and 11 government institutions across Maharashtra. The state currently has testing facilities is at only three places — Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur.

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State medical education minister Amit Deshmukh said the decision to increase facilities will help take the testing capacity up to 4,000 persons a day. Deshmukh said the state government is trying to further enhance the capacity for testing “to be ready to deal with any emergency”.

The eight private labs that have received approval are Metropolis Healthcare Limited; Thyrocare Technologies Limited; Suburban Diagnostic Private Limited; Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital; SRL Limited; AG Diagnostics Private Limited; Kokilaben Dhirubai Ambani Hospital Laboratory; and Infection Laboratories Private Limited.

Deshmukh said a person will require a prescription from a general physician on the basis of which the private laboratories will send a technical team to collect a swab sample. The test report will be provided within 8-12 hours and based on that the physician will decide further course of treatment.