The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, has been involved in capacity building in the State to set up virus testing centres as per the mandate of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Letters had been sent to about 30 medical colleges in the State to increase the testing facilities, over and above the four centres that conducted reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) currently, Asha Kishore, Director, SCTIMST, told The Hindu.
Many colleges had come forth with their initiatives already. The ICMR norms mandate medical laboratories to be accredited by the National Accreditation Board of Laboratories. It would hasten the process of setting up the virus-testing laboratory, said Dr. Kishore.
Some yet to respond
About 10-12 colleges in the private sector had not responded to the letter sent by the SCTIMST. As the process was part of the ICMR’s mandate to equip several institutions in every State to deal with the corona virus (SARS-CoV-2), all institutes which had the infrastructure and facilities should be equipped with virus testing. Since training was important to deal with the virus, the SCTIMST had been entrusted with the training part.
Five medical colleges in the private sector were already in the process of completing the required formalities. The Director of Medical Education had been informed about the private-sector medical colleges that had not responded. “It is up to the government to encourage them to join the team,” she said.
In govt. sector
There were also institutes in the government sector which were not equipped to or did not have the required infrastructure and facilities to build a virus testing lab, she said. However, the government would be facilitating the setting up of labs in these centres.
The ICMR would evaluate and approve these testing centres. These would be done after a video and photographic evaluation first.
