The Medical Education and Drugs Department of Maharashtra took to Twitter to announce that NMMC General Hospital of Vashi got an approval to conduct COVID-19 testing using TrueNat.
NMMC General Hospital, F.R.U. Vashi got approval for conducting COVID-19 testing using TrueNat.
— Medical Education & Drugs Department, Maharashtra (@Maha_MEDD) June 2, 2020
Adding these lab, #Maharashtra now has a total of 79 (45 Gov & 34 Pvt) #COVID19 testing laboratories.#TestingForCovid19 #testing #coronavirus #MEDD pic.twitter.com/dBAoi9Bntk
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has validated TrueNat, which is an indigenous diagnostic test used in detecting drug-resistant tuberculosis can be used in the detection of SARS-COV2 virus. Earlier, the ICMR had given nod to using TrueNat only as a screening test and insisted on running a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in a lab setting for confirmation. TrueNat was only testing for E gene on the sample, which is common for both SARS virus as well as SARS-COV2 which causes COVID-19.
The ICMR had earlier stated that for every positive COVID-19 test more than 20 negative tests had been done, further asserting that there has been a 1,000-fold increase in the quantum of tests per day in the last two months. The Research centre had started with less than 100 COVID-19 tests per day just two months ago, a 1000-fold increase in just 60 days was made possible by dedicated teams from research institutions, medical colleges, testing laboratories, ministries, airlines and postal services working together, the Indian Council of Medical Research had said in a statement.
The challenge of battling the coronavirus has been an unprecedented challenge, both in terms of technicalities and scale. Indian researchers had to innovate extensively, health workers had to train and learn on the job, administrators had to coordinate multiple actions round the clock in the midst of an extended nationwide lockdown.
In the absence of a full proof treatment, prevention is slated to be the best strategy, which mostly revolves around testing. In a diverse country like India, for inclusive and equitable access to testing, optimization of resources is extremely crucial during this battle with the coronavirus.
Share
Tweet
