Ranchi: In view of the possible danger of corona in Jharkhand the preparations of the state government are still going on with Sadar hospitals of almost every district being activated. Centers are also being opened in the districts where the number of testing centers were less or there were no testing centres.
In this sequence, RT-PCR labs prepared in 12 districts of the state will go active from January 7. After this the people of these districts will not have to depend on other districts for RT-PCR test. Preparations to activate the center are in their final stage.
The Health Department has given instructions to the civil surgeons of the concerned district to start the RT-PCR test set up in 12 districts to deal with the new variant BF-7 of Corona. Till now the samples of these districts were being sent for examination to the Medical Colleges or Sadar Hospitals of other districts where labs had been established earlier.
The districts where instructions have been given to start the investigation from January 7 include Garhwa, Giridih, Chatra, Latehar, Lohardaga, Jamtara, Pakur, Koderma, Khunti, Ramgarh, Simdega and Saraikela Kharsawan.
In the 12 districts where RT-PCR labs have been set up Rs 30 lakh has been spent per lab. Under the Emergency Covid Response Package-2, RTPCR labs have been set up in these districts with the funds received from the Centre. Chief Minister Hemant Soren had given instructions to start investigation in these districts at the earliest in a high-level meeting on Corona on December 26.
Vidyanand Sharma Pankaj, Joint Secretary cum Additional Campaign Director, Health Department, has sent a letter to civil surgeons of 12 districts saying that RTPCR should be done in all the districts of the state before the new variant of Corona, BF-7, enters the country. Investigation is very important so that suspected patients coming to the OPD can be identified timely after examining them.
According to the information received from them, the department has been asked to start the investigation in the RT-PCR lab as per the layout provided earlier and according to the standards of ICMR. Two lab technicians and one pathologist or microbiologist each have been trained to operate RT-PCR labs in 12 districts.
In coordination with Dr Manoj Kumar incharge of the Department of Microbiology RIMS he has been asked to do the work of sample data validation for the process of obtaining the certificate from ICMR. Kits and other materials for testing will be arranged at the district level.