SHILLONG: Meghalaya Government is waiting response from the Centre to its proposal for use of two Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machine to conduct tests for COVID-19 in the state.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) centre in the state has the machine and it would be of great use for conducting COVID-19 tests
Speaking on the matter, Commissioner and Secretary, Sampath Kumar admitted that ICAR had the machines. He said the state government had already taken up the matter with the Union Health Minister long time back but the response was yet to come as the centre was busy at that juncture fighting COVID-19 pandemic in other states while Meghalaya was COVID-19 free then.
He said that the proposal was required to be approved by the ICMR before the machine could be used in Meghalaya. He added that the scientists from the State Government on Saturday visited ICAR centre near Shillong to learn technical knowhow of the machine.
“It would take some time but we have also written to the ICAR direction on the matter, “ he said. It was also learnt that ICAR in UP got the permission to use such machines for testing of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, some doctors who did not wish to be identified, said that Meghalaya Government should explore the idea of using GeneXpert’ TB Platform which could pave the way for more number of tests.
Doctors also said that most of the hospitals in the city had GeneXpert’ TB Platform which is an easy way to test COVID-19 and results can be out in a quick time though it is not as effective as RT-PCR
Reacting to a query in this regard, Sampath Kumar, however, said that GeneXpert’ TB Platform was not a full-fledged system which could give accurate results and RT-PCR can indicate whether a case is positive or negative.