SHILLONG: COVID-19 testing facility at Tura Civil Hospital was inaugurated by Lok Sabha MP Agatha Sangma and MLA Thomas Sangma in the presence of health officials on Saturday in Tura.
Reiterating that the pandemic is going to remain and not likely to end very soon and that the lockdown period may need to be lifted for various purposes, Agatha urged people to adapt to certain
behavioural changes that have taken place all over the world including the region and to continue to follow various advisories like personal hygiene, social distancing, wearing of masks, and others for the safety and security.
Further, she mentioned that the situation even though is uncertain, has given ample opportunity to spend time with family members and also to bring out the goodness among people and help each other in time of crisis. Looking forward to the most important role to be played by the medical fraternity at this moment since it deals with saving lives of the people, she extended her support and cooperation.
Thomas has urged everyone not to stigmatise or discriminate people, but to come together and support each other to prevent the spread of the disease in the region.
Director of Health Services (MI) Aman War informed that the COVID-19 samples can now be tested in Tura Civil Hospital since TRUNAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) is already functional and screening can be done.
Dr. Elim Marak, MD (Microbiology) and his assistant in-charge Dr. Sengnachi Sangma MD (Microbiology) along with technical assistants will be working in the laboratory for COVID-19 testing at Tura Civil Hospital. As informed by Dr Marak, once the samples are tested positive, it will be confirmed by RTPCR which is still under process of installation and will be functional very soon.
Once installed, maximum of 6 samples can be tested in TRUNAT in one day while in RTPCR 50 samples can be done in one day. An information booklet on COVID-19 was also released and the leaflet has been printed in English, Garo, Khasi and Hindi languages for better understanding of the people of the region. Ambulances procured under Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) were also released.
Ambulances procured under Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) were also released.
