State gets virology and Covid-19 lab in Palamu

Chief Minister Hemant Soren today inaugurated state-of-the-art VIROLOGY & COVID-19 DIAGNOSTIC LAB at Palamu Medical College and Hospital in Medininagar online and said that the lab would prove to be milestone in Jharkhand’s fight against Covid-19. The laboratory is expected to enable 1000-1500 sample-testing for Covid -19 on a daily basis after being commissioned.

Set up in the area of 1500 square meters as per ICMR Guidelines by PREJHA Foundation under the guidance of AIIMS Raipur, the lab will have 1000 to 1500 samples tested daily. This lab is ready in 45 days. It is a biosafety label-2 (BSL-2) lab with negative pressure. It has two machines of RTPCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) and 3 biosafety cabinets of Type-2, A-2. Apart from this, other technical equipment has been installed, through which more investigation will be possible in less time. The operation of the lab will save time and based on the test report, rapid treatment of corona infected persons will be possible.

Speaking on the occasion of online inauguration of the lab the CM said that the state government has started functioning at a fast pace from the very first day of corona infection. “In the initial phase, we had to depend on other states for the Covid-19 test for about 20 to 25 days, but soon 3 laboratories in the State started the investigation. Testing of Covid-19 is necessary on a war footing, for this reason, a biosafety level laboratory has been inaugurated by the State government today in Palamu,” he said.

The CM said that a state-of-the-art Covid-19 test laboratory will be inaugurated soon in Santal Parganas. Complete preparation has been done for this. He said that providing better health care facilities to the people of the State is the top priority of the government. At present, any kind of negligence can become a big challenge in the field of health medicine.

“We need to work continuously to ensure that health facilities are available to the people with full readiness. Due to the lack of labs in the State, there is a lot of rush for sample examination at RIMS etc. but as the scope of labs will increase, people will get test reports in their area and do not depend on laboratories in RIMS or elsewhere,” he added.

Soren said that at present, the facility of TrueNat machine has been made available for immediate investigation of Covid-19. The government is committed to provide testing facilities at the block level by increasing the scope of the TrueNat machine. He said that in this phase of Corona infection, there is an atmosphere of captivity, yet it was a challenge to set up a grand laboratory in Palamu.

“The corona infection was a major challenge in the State. Every aspect of the infection with limited resources was constantly monitored, which is why today we are able to do a better job in controlling the infection than other neighbouring states. An example of State government’s alertness and better management is seen today,” said the CM.

On this occasion, Health Minister Banna Gupta, Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajiv Arun Ekka, Principal Secretary of Health Department Dr. Nitin Madan Kulkarni were present. Chhatarpur MLA  Pushpa Devi, DIG RK Lakra, Deputy Commissioner Shashi Ranjan, Superintendent of Police Ajay Linda, Principal of PMCH Dr. J. Sharan Prasad, Superintendent Dr. KN Singh, Civil Surgeon Palamu Dr. John F. Kennedy and other officials were present online.