Soon, testing for Covid to be conducted at PGI lab

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5

Soon, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research will start conducting tests for Covid-19. This has been confirmed by PGI Director Jagat Ram.

During a meeting held with the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Preeti Sundan, in New Delhi, the PGI Director was asked if the hospital had sufficient resources to conduct test for Covid-19. Prof Jagat Ram replied that the PGIMER was well-equipped for the purpose.

He said permission from the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was required to conduct Covid testing. The ICMR had started the process for giving approval to start lab testing of Covid at the PGI, he added.

It will be a relief for physicians and patients, who otherwise are dependent on the ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing samples for the virus.

The samples are currently being sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. Doctors at the Department of Virology, PGI, have started the process to start the facility. The lab will function from Research Block-A.

Presently, 15 laboratories under the Viral Research and Diagnostics Laboratories network of the ICMR are testing samples. All these laboratories have been equipped with sufficient reagents to undertake molecular testing of Covid.

The ICMR is maintaining close communication with all laboratories to ensure adherence to appropriate quality of testing, improve timeliness of reporting and, if required, sample transport to the ICMR-NIV, Pune, for reconfirmation.