Gkp hosp enlisting volunteers for vaccine trial

LUCKNOW: Gorakhpur’s Rana Hospital and Trauma Centre, which is one of the two private hospitals in the state that will conduct human trials of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited, has started enlisting volunteers.

Venkatesh Chaturvedi, chief administrative officer of Rana Hospital said, “We are looking for 100 volunteers for the trial. We have a list of volunteers as we have completed two vaccine trials for typhoid and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in January and more names will be shortlisted.”

After recruitment of volunteers, the hospital would first send their samples for RT-PCR and antibody tests in Delhi.

The volunteers will be tested for antibodies against COVID-19 among other parameters, to see whether they can be given the vaccine or not. Thereafter, their names will be approved as volunteers, he said.

“We are also waiting for the vaccine and further guidelines to come to us,” said Chaturvedi.

He said the hospital would move ahead with trials as soon as the guidelines and vaccines arrived.

Human trials at the Gorakhpur hospital will be held under the supervision of physician Dr Ajit Pratap Singh and senior consultant gynaecologist Dr Sona Ghosh. Rana Hospital and Trauma Centre in Gorakhpur and Prakhar Hospital in Kanpur and are among the 12 institutes across the country where the human trial of the vaccine will be conducted.

As per rules, ICMR issues permits for conducting the trials to government facilities (67%) and the private sector (33%). For the Rana Hospital, it will be third vaccine trial in a span of one year.

VOLUNTEERS WOULD BE TESTED FOR ANTIBODIES AGAINST COVID-19 AMONG OTHER PARAMETERS, TO SEE WHETHER THEY CAN BE GIVEN VACCINE OR NOT