Darbhanga: The central clinical laboratory of Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) is running out of chemical re-agent for its automatic analyser machine that caters to the pathological needs of around 300 patients per day.

The patients have to wait for the pathological reports for three to four days.

For more than two weeks now, the laboratory has been unable to give pathological reports to its patients on time. Presently, the tests are being analysed with a semi-automatic analyser.

The head of the department, central clinical laboratory, Dr Shyamal Singh, said the automatic analyser is capable of analysing 40 to 50 samples at a time whereas the semi-automatic can analyse one sample at a time.

He said: "I had made the hospital administration aware about the limited stock of the re-agent when we were out of stock. However, it could not be made available on time."

However, the superintendent of DMCH, Dr R.R. Prasad, who has joined recently, told The Telegraph that the reagent will be made available in a short time. He added: "The reagent has been procured and its entry is being done at the hospital store. Within a day or two, the reagent would be made available at the laboratory."