Haryana begins rapid tests with South Korean kits
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Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
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Chandigarh, April 29
25k kits received & distributed
- The state has received 25,000 rapid antibody test kits manufactured by SD Biosensor, a South Korean firm based in Gurugram
As many as 2,000 kits have been allocated to Panchkula; 1,500 each to Gurugram, Nuh, Palwal and Faridabad; 1,000 each to Ambala, Panipat, Rohtak and Sonepat
AdvertisementIn all, 500 kits each have also been allocated to various government and private medical colleges of the state
Almost a week after rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) was stopped across the country over faulty Chinese kits, Haryana has now launched it with South Korean kits to assess the prevalence of disease in specific areas.
The Director General of Health Services, Haryana, has written to the civil surgeons of various districts to collect the RDT kits from warehouse as per distribution. Confirming the development, Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary, Health Department, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) ban on rapid testing was just for the Chinese kits.
“Some other states have also started using kits procured from non-Chinese sources. The Chinese kits made available by the ICMR are being returned as communicated by them,” Arora added.
The ACS said the civil surgeons had been told to provide proper training to medical officers, who were supposed to supervise testing in field, lab technicians and multipurpose health workers before testing. For this purpose, a video and a PPT presentation explaining how to conduct the rapid tests have been supplied to them.
As per the directions issued to the civil surgeons (7% working in field and 7% in institutions), 14% kits to be used on health workers, 7% on police personnel, street vendors, sanitary staff, media professionals, newspaper vendors and district administration and the remaining 79% in the containment zones.
Sources said the results of rapid tests would also provide the government in the preparation of the exit plan from the ongoing lockdown. The civil surgeons have also been told to send the report daily on a prescribed format as well as on their reporting app.
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