Capt: Up testing capacity to 6,000 per day by May 15

ASKS HEALTH DEPT TO TEST ALL NANDED RETURNEES AND NOT RELY ON SCREENING DONE IN OTHER STATES

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday asked the health department to ramp up the RT-PCR Covid testing facilities in the state to 6,000 a day by the May 15, instead of the targeted 5,800 a day by May-end.

Chairing a cabinet meeting through video-conferencing, the CM directed the health department to conduct fresh tests on all returnees instead of relying on screening done in other states.

The CM said as several staffers at the Hazur Sahib gurdwara had tested positive, the Akali Dal’s claim that there were no positive cases in the Nanded and the pilgrims had got infected on the way back or on reaching Punjab had been trashed. “This was a crucial time in the state’s fight against Covid-19,” the CM said.

He said he had already asked the chief secretary to coordinate with the central government to scale up the testing capacity to 20,000 a day to cope with the influx of migrants and others expected to return to the state over the next few weeks .

Amarinder said he had also asked the vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, to explore the feasibility of setting up a testing facility in Jalandhar for which the government was ready to sanction a grant of Rs 1 crore.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Saturday approved extension of parole period beyond 16 weeks during epidemics and disasters, for those sentenced to 7 years or less. It also cleared various appointments, on outsourcing basis, for critical posts at the government medical colleges in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot.

The cabinet was informed that proposal has been sent to the Government of India to set up four new labs in the district hospitals at Barnala, Rupnagar, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur. Additionally, a proposal to procure 15 TruNaat machines has been moved.

The cabinet also accorded ex-post facto approval to the appointment of 4,300 guardians of governance and agreed to amend the transfer policy of the school education department to allow teachers seeking transfer after 18 months of posting in the border areas, instead of the earlier 3 years, once new recruitments are completed.