With only fewer samples being tested a day due to a lone testing facility at VRD Laboratory at SVIMS, the Chittoor district administration has taken an initiative to find alternatives.
The VRD lab can test 300 samples a day, but as the number of samples started rising, there is a quantum jump in pendency. To offload burden on the VRD lab, the government made arrangements to launch testing with Truenat machines and also by setting up another COVID-19 testing lab at Multi Disciplinary Research Unit (MDRU), working under SVR Ruia Government General Hospital, but functioning at Chandragiri near here. RT-PCR equipment will be made available here soon.
District Collector Bharat N. Gupta said 17 Truenat machines were set up in various hospitals, which could handle up to 20 samples a day.
Of the 17, five have been set up at Ruia, three at SV Veterinary University, five at Chittoor government hospital and two each in Palamaner and Madanapalle hospitals. Mr. Gupta announced that results could now be provided within an hour of collecting the throat swab.
