Have put use of rapid antibody kits to detect coronavirus on hold, Centre tells Bombay high court

The procurement of rapid antibody test kits at the central level has been partly completed, but its usage to detect Covid-19 has been put on hold in view of the

The procurement of rapid antibody test kits at the central level has been partly completed, but its usage to detect Covid-19 has been put on hold in view of the divergent outcome of some sample tests, the Centre had informed the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday.

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“These kits are used only for surveillance and cannot be used for VRDL [Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory] centres,” assistant solicitor general UM Aurangabadkar had informed the bench of justice Nitin Sambre. He also clarified that the kits are at the disposal of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and will be distributed to states, if demanded by them.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Nagpur resident CH Sharma in 2000, raising concerns about the quality of healthcare provided at the four government medical colleges in the Vidarbha region.

Sharma had complained that the four colleges did not have enough medical seats for imparting medical education to students, lacked proper equipment required for taking care of the patients and imparting education, as well as they lacked adequate staff, expert teachers and suffered from paucity of funds.

During the course of hearing, the court on Thursday was also informed that VRDL laboratories cannot be made operational at Yavatmal and Chandrapur before May 20, for want of infrastructure.

Dr Ajay Kewaliya, dean of Indira Gandhi Medical College at Nagpur, also informed the court that the Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Machines (RT-PCR) required for the laboratories are procured through Haffkine Institute, which in turn imports the machines from Singapore, and the shipment of the machines is a time-consuming process.

In this backdrop, justice Sambre directed the authorities concerned that “once the equipment is received and the labs are installed, the operation of the same shall not be withheld for want of testing kits and it shall be the duty of the competent authority, including the state government, to make available sufficient number of testing kits for making such labs operational.”