World Health Organisation (WHO) would provide around Rs 1 crore to set up molecular testing facility at the microbiology department of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) by this month’s end.

At present, the microbiology department conducts only serological testing, which was also started with the help of WHO fund in 2011.

With serological testing, the department tests suspected cases of polio, measles and rubella virus.

Doctors at the PMCH microbiology department said with the introduction of the molecular-level testing facility, the hospital would be able to conduct more authentic tests to ascertain the reason of inherited genetic diseases, infectious diseases among others.

Shankar Prakash, head, microbiology department, PMCH said: “In molecular testing, the reason of the disease is ascertained by reading the structure of nucleic acid of the bacteria or virus causing the disease while in serological testing, the presence of the antibodies of the disease is detected so as to find out the actual cause of the disease. So in a way it is an indirect investigation to find out the cause of the disease.”

Prakashadded: “Molecular testing is a kind of direct investigation, so it is considered more authentic and accurate. With molecular testing facility we would be able to diagnose genetic diseases, infectious diseases. Besides, we would also be able to do the parenting test which helps to find out the biological parents of a child,”

Prakash added that his department would soon conduct training on how to handle the machines used in molecular testing.

“The molecular testing machines are highly sophisticated and it requires great skills to be able to handle them. So, we would conduct a special training for handling the machine for microbiologists and lab technicians associated with our department,” added Prakash.

Apart from molecular testing facility, a viral diagnostic laboratory is also going to come up at the microbiology department by the end of this financial year.

“The Union government, state government and Indian Council of Medical Research are jointly developing the laboratory. We have already received Rs 1.25 crore of the total fund of around Rs 3 crore,” said Vijay Kumar, another microbiologist associated with the PMCH.