The School of Tropical Medicine will conduct tests for Covid-19 from Monday, an official of the institute said on Friday after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the central Calcutta facility has got the approval for the tests.
The official told The Telegraph they could test 850 samples with the kits that have arrived.
“With the kits we would be able to conduct tests of around 850 samples. Given our infrastructure, we can conduct about 20 tests every day,” he said.
Health department officials said the School of Tropical Medicine would receive more kits.
The institute — whose campus adjoins that of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, which has been dedicated for treatment of Covid-19 patients — becomes the third government-run facility in Calcutta to conduct the tests.
The other two are the Institute for Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (SSKM Hospital) and the National Institute for Cholera and Enteric Diseases (Niced), in Beleghata.
According to statements issued by the state health department, around 50 samples were collected daily over the past three days for the Covid-19 tests. Niced and the testing facility on the SSKM Hospital campus together have the infrastructure to test the 50-odd samples daily.
But public health experts fear that if the number of Covid-19 suspects increase in the coming days, the facilities won’t be able to cope with the rush.
“One more government facility and one private facility will surely help in the fight against the coronavirus, but more testing centres must be opened soon,” said a public health professional.
The Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals on Wednesday got the nod from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s apex body for biomedical research, to conduct tests for Covid-19. But an official of the hospital said they had not received any kit till Friday. “We are not sure whether we will be able to start conducting the tests before next week,” the official said.
The chief minister also announced on Friday that the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, too, would be conducting tests for Covid-19.
As the lockdown has brought train and bus services to a halt, transporting samples from north Bengal to Calcutta was proving to be a challenge, she said.
A few other private hospitals and laboratories in Calcutta, too, have applied to the ICMR for permission to conduct tests.
More tests will be needed because a revised guideline of ICMR says physical and high-risk contacts of all positive persons have to undergo tests.
