Why BMCRI can’t deploy mobile Covid-19 testing labs

The Indian Institute of Science has handed over India’s first ICMR-approved BSL-2 compliant mobile diagnostic labs to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) for deployment in rural areas.

The trouble, of course, is a lack of lab technicians trained to work in mobile vans, which is posing a challenge in deploying the two vehicles in rural areas.

IISc-ShanMukha’s Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting (MITR) Labs are BSL-2 compliant to perform end-to-end RT-PCR based Covid-19 testing.

These mobile labs enable a significant reduction in turnaround times from 2-10 days to 4-12 hours for tests to determine Covid-19.

Deploying the two van-labs is significant since the existing facilities are struggling to meet daily testing targets due to an alarming rise in cases. Delays in getting test reports are also hampering early treatment.

The Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at BMCRI does not have enough human resources to spare for the mobile labs, which requires two medical lab technicians per van per eight-hour shift.

“That is at least six personnel per van, which is 18 in total,” explained Dr Sneha K S, Assistant Professor at BMCRI’s Microbiology Department, where the vans had been handed over.

"Getting used to working in a van, a much smaller area, is not as easy as working in spacious medical college labs," Dr Sneha said, pointing out that labs are biohazardous.

Dr G S Venkatesh, director of advanced research at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), revealed a plan by the varsity to deploy students of allied health sciences in the van after a crash course in RT-PCR testing since they have done lab technician courses.

“Once the students get used to working in the vans’ cramped space, we can deploy them in areas with a high number of cases where testing facilities are scarce,” Dr Venkatesh told DH.

Dr Sneha expressed doubts about training BSc students in Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) in the RT-PCR testing.

“While they can do RNA extraction of the samples, the rest has to be done by MSc MLT students or PhD students in Molecular Biology,” she said, noting that all private Covid-19 testing labs will definitely have MSc MLT students.

The process

One of the vans is deployed for sample collection and processing, while the other is for testing them.

In fact, samples are collected at the booth attached to the collection van and are inactivated inside a BSL-2 cabinet available in the vehicle.

They are then transferred to the processing van using the pass box available in both the vans. RNA extraction is done inside the processing van. They are then transferred to the testing van where RT-PCR assay is run.

After a batch of 80 samples is processed in the RT-PCR instrument, the results are posted in the ICMR portal.