Work on a regional-level Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, the only such facility to come up in Kerala, is progressing at the Government Medical College, Kozhikode. It will have biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) standards to detect high-risk category infectious diseases.
Research on low-risk microbes can be carried out at a BSL-1 lab. Infectious organisms that are connected with diseases affecting humans can be dealt with at a BSL-2 lab. Indigenous or exotic microbes are handled at BSL-3 labs, while deadly organisms require a BSL-4 lab.
According to official sources, up to 75% of the civil works for the project, undertaken by the Central Public Works department (CPWD), is already complete. In the meantime, some dispute emerged between the contractor and the CPWD, and another one has been chosen to finish the rest of the works in five to six months. Procedures to purchase equipment for the lab are on too.
The medical college already had a BS level-2 Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory under the State government. After the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode in 2018, a proposal was made to the Union Health Ministry in December that year to upgrade the facility to a regional-level lab. Since a regional lab should have BS level-3 standards, it was decided to enhance the existing system there. Though the official process for the purpose picked up pace in 2019 and 2020, it was halted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The work began only in November 2021, the sources said.
“Once the lab gets a validation from the Indian Council of Medical Research, we may not have to send samples of patients, suspected to be suffering from highly infectious diseases such as the Nipah, to the National Institute of Virology lab at Pune for confirmation. The lab tests on such high-risk category patients can be done here itself,” a senior official at the medical college told The Hindu on Wednesday. Right now, the lab tests of only low-risk category patients are done at the VRDL.
