Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Jun 24: Works on the proposed government coronavirus infection testing laboratory here was moving ahead at an agonisingly slow pace. The works have reached the final stage now. Work on fixing appliances and equipment is almost over and the lab is likely to start functioning fully during July first week.
The deadlines set by state medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar, health minister Sriramulu, and home minister Basavaraj Bommai, for the opening of the laboratory, have passed now. The laboratory has not started functioning even after several time frames. Now there is hope that it may start functioning during the first week of July.
A team of district microbiologist and lab technicians have been trained by experts at Bengaluru about the collection of throat swab samples, method of finding the infection, safety measures to be followed when testing, and the use of machines and equipment.
In order to put to test the newly learnt skills and to measure their efficiency, five throat swab samples which have already been tested, have been sent to the district hospital here from Bengaluru. These samples will be tested and a report will be sent to Bengaluru. If the result matches with the original reports, permission will be given for the laboratory to begin working, said district surgeon Madhusudan Nayak.
A microbiologist, three lab technicians from the National Rural Health Mission, and a data entry operator have been appointed to the lab now. Nayak said that trial run will begin now, and after staff are appointed in phases, the lab will start testing the maximum number of samples.
At present, the coronavirus testing laboratory is available only at KMC Hospital Manipal where about 300 samples are tested daily. As a large number of people continue to pour into the district from states having a high prevalence of coronavirus, the laboratory at the district hospital, once it becomes functional, will help the people to get their reports faster.
The experts say that even if the number of infected people increases, faster testing and detection can help to block the spreading of community infection.