COVID-19 testing facility in all districts of Bihar by June 15: Mangal Pandey

Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey on Friday asserted that the number of COVID-19 testing is increasing continuously in the state and said that around 5,000 tests are being conducted at 26 centres in Bihar.

"The number of COVID-19 testing has been increasing continuously in the state. Currently, the capacity to conduct the test is about five thousand. At present, four thousand patients are being tested with RT-PCR machine and the remaining tests are being done through CV net machine and True net machine at 26 centres in the state," said Pandey.

During the high-level meeting, the Chief Minister instructed the Chief Secretary and other officials attending the meet to ensure that all districts conduct testing by June 15.

Pandey further said that the target of conducting ten thousand tests daily would be achieved by June 20.

"Apart from CV net machines, cartages have also been brought for in the state. A Cobas machine, which has the capacity to perform more than a thousand tests daily, has arrived in the state. At the same time, two RNA extractor machines have been installed at RMRI and Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna. Also, an additional automated RNA extractor and RT-PCR machine is being sent to Shrikrishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur, which will be operational in the next one week," Pandey said.

"Apart from this, 35 True Net machines have been installed in the state and 22 machines are being installed. In addition, 30 more True Net machines will be installed in various districts of the state by June 15. Thus a total of 87 true net machines will start functioning in the state," added Pandey.

He said that additional and 20 True Net machines from other sources will also be installed in various institutions. The Health Department has thus ensured a programme to achieve the target of ten thousand tests by June 20, 2020, and conduct tests at all district centres.

Currently, there are 21 thousand 35 (21,035) isolation beds in the state. A comprehensive plan has been chalked out to increase the number of these isolation beds to 40 thousand and necessary guidelines have been given to high officials in this meeting.

( With inputs from ANI )