Sample testing for coronavirus at Dhanbad’s Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Ranchi’s Itki TB Sanitorium Hospital will start next week as two new machines for each centre have already been installed and permission for conducting the tests has been obtained from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The state, which has so far registered two positive cases of coronavirus, is currently having testing facilities for the disease at Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and Jamshedpur’s Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH). Both the hospitals have two machines each.
“In order to effectively contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state, four new machines, two each at Ranchi’s Itki hospital and Dhanbad’s PMCH, have been installed to get more tests done. ICMR’s mandatory permission to conduct the tests with these four machines have been obtained. There are still some formalities that are required to be completed to make the machines functional. The machines will start working in a couple of days,” said Banna Gupta, health minister.
PMCH principal Dr Shailendra Kumar, however, explained that the machines with testing kits have arrived. “A doctor and a clinical staffer would soon visit Jamshedpur’s MGMMCH for a three-day training. Once they would return here, sample testing would begin,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}PMCH principal Dr Shailendra Kumar, however, explained that the machines with testing kits have arrived. “A doctor and a clinical staffer would soon visit Jamshedpur’s MGMMCH for a three-day training. Once they would return here, sample testing would begin,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}On Friday, state chief secretary Sukhdeo Singh had held a meeting with top officials and all deputy commissioners and issued a slew of directions to them. He said after detection of two coronavirus-positive cases, the state has entered in the second stage of this pandemic.
“This is a time of crisis. Casual approach will not be tolerated. Our cumulative efforts should be aimed at to track all suspects of Covid-19 and get them isolated and tested so that we can prevent the pandemic from entering into the third stage. But we have to also keep our preparations ready for dealing with third stage,” he said.
He asked all deputy commissioners to prepare a blueprint for this and constitute 10-20 survey teams in their respective areas. He also asked the authorities to provide recreation facility to people quarantined at government centres and take regular feedback of people in home quarantine.