M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 21: The Covid-19 testing lab in the Medinirai Medical College Hospital in Daltonganj has been closed sine die.
The lab closed down on May 20. The principal of MMCH Dr Shailendra Kumar confirmed the closing down of the lab.
Dr Shailendra said he has no idea when and how the test lab will be again opened to conduct the RT PCR tests. Around 1,000 samples of nasal and throat swabs for RT PCR test now remain untested in this shut lab.
“We have no choice but to keep these untested samples of the swab in the deep freezer only,” he said.
Palamu district epidemiologist Dr Anup Kumar Singh said the swab samples for the RT PCR test account for 698 out of this, as said 1,000 samples. “Only on Friday, we sent 300 samples of swab for the RT PCR test to this lab. And now, it has gone shut. We don’t know how to get the findings of the swab,” added Dr Anup.
Samples of nasal and throat swab from Garhwa district also used to come to this lab for test.
The principal said he has informed the Palamu DC Shashi Ranjan about the shut down of the Covid test lab in writing and also some officials in the National Health Mission, Ranchi. Notably, the Palamu DC is the controlling officer of this medical college and its lab too.
Why this Covid 19 lab test got shut down?
According to the principal of MMCH Dr Shailendra Kumar, there is no fund to run this lab or even to buy a simple thing like a pipette.
Re-agents and other consumables required for RT PCR test are costlier in respect of the pipette only but when there is no fund, they also can’t be bought .
The decision to close down the Covid test lab of MMCH Daltonganj was born out of extreme situation of fund going dry.
How to run this lab again?
Dr Shailendra Kumar said the flow of fund can keep this lab going and right now there is no wherewithal to it. “Lack of fund hastened its shut down,” lamented the principal.
The lab was set up by an NGO called PReJHA Foundation which had reached an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Jharkhand Medical And Health Infrastructure Development Procurement Corporation Limited, Ranchi in 2020.
This lab in MMCH Daltonganj was set up at the cost of Rs 2.50 crores in 2020. It was then run by the PReJHA Foundation. Chief minister Hemant Soren had inaugurated this lab online from Ranchi.
Three extensions were given to the PReJHA Foundation after its term of one year was over, to run this lab here in the Medinirai medical college in Daltonganj.
The first extension to run this lab was up to June 2021. The second extension was given up to October 2021. And finally the third and last extension was given up to 30th March 2022. These extensions were given in the wake of the fear of third wave and that of Omicron.
The Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Arun Kumar Singh, meanwhile, wrote a letter to the principal of MMCH Daltonganj to take over this lab from the PReJHA Foundation at the end of March 2022.
Later, ACS Arun Kumar Singh also directed the principal of this medical college to run this lab with help from the trained staff of the microbiology and pathology departments.
PReJHA Foundation accordingly handed down the lab to the MMCH principal on March 31, 2022.
“We ran this lab from 1.4.2022 to 19.5.2022 but when things went dry like reagents and consumables, we were forced to shut this lab on/from May 20 with a very heavy heart with no hope locally around to keep it going,” said Dr Shailendra.
Sources said the PReJHA Foundation had set up a similar and identical Covid test labs in two more newly started medical colleges one each at Hazaribag and at Dumka.
How people will get RTPCR test done now?
Getting the RTPCR test done is now an expensive affair. RT PCR test in private pathology costs Rs 600 per person’s swab. If some one tests covid positive then his entire family is advised to have this test done which is an affair of Rs 3,000 for a family of 5 persons only.
Can Rapid Antigen Test be a substitute for RTPCR?
According to Palamu civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar, RT PCR test is a very dependable, accurate and reliable test. It often gives fake case of Covid positivity.
