The long wait for the test results of COVID -19, will soon come to an end, as the city will get its own testing centre shortly. This comes as a relief to those who have been kept on isolation under suspicion of carrying the virus, and awaiting the test results. The centre is coming up at Andhra Medical College in King George Hospital.
Till date the swab samples required for the test was being sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune or being sent to the virology lab of the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati. And at least two days was being wasted in transit time.
The city will have its own laboratory in the next 10 days and it was confirmed by the Principal of Andhra Medical College and in-charge of the quarantine facility at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) P.V. Sudhakar.
Giving details, he said, “At present we have a virology lab in the Rajendra Prasad ward, but it is not sufficient and we do not have the required equipment for the COVID-19 test. Now we are shifting it to the annex building of Bhavnagar ward and have already ordered for the required equipment.”
According to Dr. Sudhakar, time is a crucial factor and the need of the hour is to get the test results as early as possible. Once we have the testing centre ready, then we can have the results in a day or two, he said.
The centre will be set up under the Department of Microbiology and it will have about six staff monitoring it round the clock.
Equipment
Indent have been placed for equipment worth around ₹1 crore which includes the key ones such as RT-PCR and bio-cabinet. With the setting up of the centre, results can be obtained for both COVID-19 and H1N1 (Swine flu), said Dr. Sudhakar.
Fourth one in State
With the setting of the testing centre in Visakhapatnam, the number of centres in the State will go up to four.
Two are already functional at Tirupati and Vijayawada and another one is coming up at Rangaraya Medical College in Kakinada.
According to sources in Andhra Medical College and King George Hospital, the centre at Rangaraya Medical College will be inaugurated in this week and the one at KGH will done in the next 10 days.
