Testing labs at pvt medical colleges, ESIC hosps in 30 days

All private medical colleges and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospitals in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi have to set up the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) labs within 30 days, Minister S Suresh Kumar, in charge of media briefings, said.

He said National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences will guide and coordinate between all these institutions, he said.

To increase the testing capacity to 10,000 tests per day, the RTPCR machines available with the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) and veterinary colleges will be relocated to ICMR-approved labs located in medial colleges and
hospitals.

The heads of these institutions will also depute their microbiologists and technicians working on these machines to the approved labs for training and operating these machines, he added.

He said the University of Agricultural Sciences on the GKVK campus in Jakkur is lending its machine to the National Institute of Traditional Medicine in Belagavi. The Veterinary College in Hebbal is sending its machine to the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences in Ballari, and Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences in Kalaburagi. The University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad is lending its machine to the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubballi.

The Karnataka Institute of DNA Research in Dharwad is giving its machine to the Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, and Institute of Agri-Biotechnology in Dharwad is sending its machine to Dharwad Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, he explained.