In what could be a setback to the State government in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak, the Central government told the Bombay High Court on Friday that the rapid antibody test kits procured for the virus cannot be used as they have given diverse results in sample tests.
The Centre made the submission before the Nagpur Bench of the High Court when Justice Nitin Sambre was hearing a petition filed by a Nagpur resident raising concerns over the quality of healthcare provide in four government medical colleges in Vidarbha.
Assistant solicitor general U.M. Aurangabadkar told the Bench that while the kits have been procured, they cannot be used by laboratories at the moment and can only be used for surveillance, as sample tests showed varied results.
The Bench was also informed that the Indian Council of Medical Research had the kits at their disposal, and can distribute them to States if demanded.
The court was also informed that virus research and diagnostic laboratories (VRDL) cannot be made operational in Yavatmal and Chandrapur before May 20 because of lack of infrastructure.
Dr Ajay Kewaliya, dean of Indira Gandhi Medical College in Nagpur, told the court that the real-time polymerase chain reaction machines are imported from Singapore through the Haffkine Institute, which is a time-consuming process.
The Bench directed the authorities that once the laboratories are set up and the equipment arrives, it shall be the duty of the competent authority, including the State government, to make sufficient kits available to make VRDLs operational.
