The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved the laboratory at Karur Government Medical College Hospital to carry out COVID-19 tests.
It is one of few medical college hospitals in the State which have got the approval for COVID-19 testing within months after first batch of medical students joined. Full fledged laboratory, according to sources, usually comes into being when the first batch of students moves to third year. However, the Karur Government Medical College Hospital, the 23rd government college in the State, has managed to set up the infrastructure within its first academic year. Besides testing facilities, a group of microbiologists have reported for duty.
“Trial testing of COVID-19 patients has been completed and we have started examining the swabs and blood samples,” Rosy Vennila, Dean of the hospital said.
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The laboratory will be a boon to patients of the district to get results within a day. The hospital authorities had so far been sending samples to Tiruvarur Government Medical College Hospital or Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi for testing. It took at least 3 to 4 days to get the results.
Dr. Vennila said that the KGMC Hospital had been receiving COVID-19 patients from Karur, Namakkal and Dindigul districts. The testing facility had enabled the doctors to begin treatment within a day of admission.