14 premier institutes to mentor setting up of COVID testing labs
NEW DELHI: Aiming to scale up Coronavirus testing facilities as confirmed cases have rose to almost 75,000, the Union Health Ministry has designated 14 health establishments such as AIIMS, New Delhi, PGIMER in Chandigarh and JIPMER, Puducherry to review proposals for approving any new laboratory for COVID-19 testing in different states.
Notably, earlier all such proposals were reviewed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The decision in this regard has been taken on the suggestion of the ICMR after a spurt in cases of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“The identified institutions are expected to serve as mentors and facilitate the establishment of COVID-19 testing facilities in respective states. All the institutions has been tasked to review the proposals of different states,” an ICMR official said.
“They will review the proposals from private and government medical colleges as well as other central government institutions belonging to the Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Defence Research and Development Organisation among others,” the ICMR officials said. According to the officials, the AIIMS, Delhi will do a comprehensive review of requests for approving any new laboratory for COVID testing from Delhi and Bihar, while PGIMER, Chandigarh will do so for Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttarkhand.
The North-eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Science (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong will assess all proposals from Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal
Pradesh and Nagaland, the official said.
The AIIMS, Nagpur has been allocated Maharashtra (except Mumbai and Pune) and Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu. The AIIMS in Jodhpur has been assigned Rajasthan and Gujarat, King George Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow has been assigned Uttar Pradesh and AIIMS Bhopal has been allocated Madhya Pradesh among others.