Jharkhand: RT-PCR tests begin at Hazaribag hospital

HAZARIBAG: An

RT-PCR

machine installed at Hazaribag Medical College and Hospital (HMCH) became operational on Wednesday evening. The machine will help the state health department to ramp up testing for

Covid-19

infections.


Until now, RT-PCR

tests

– considered the gold standard for Covid-19 diagnosis – was available at Rims and Itki in Ranchi, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH) in Jamshedpur and Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in Dhanbad, apart from some private pathological labs. After Hazaribag, two medical colleges in Dumka and Palamu are also expected to launch the facility soon.

Talking to TOI, Hazaribag deputy commissioner

Bhuvanesh Pratap Singh

on Wednesday said, “The RT-PCR testing lab at the hospital has become functional and we do not need to send swab samples to MGMMCH or Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) any more. This is a big relief and will help us contain the spread of the virus in the district.”

As per a health department bulletin issued on Wednesday morning, Hazaribag is one of the worst-affected districts by Covid-19 in the state, with a caseload of 300. Of these, 101 are active cases, 196 have recovered and three patients have died during treatment. On Monday, the district recorded its biggest single-day surge in Covid cases with 40 new infections.

Singh added that sending samples to labs in other districts often caused delays in getting results, which in turn led to huge backlog of pending samples. Singh is currently under home quarantine after his one-year-old daughter and younger brother tested positive for Covid-19 along with other staff at his residential office a few days ago.

HMCH superintendent Dr Sanjay Kumar Sinha said that along with the RT-PCR laboratory, they will continue to test samples through three TrueNat machines already operational at the hospital.