YOGI OPENS 13 LABS, SAYS UP TOPS IN SAMPLE TESTS
LUCKNOW : Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said Uttar Pradesh started the fight against Covid-19 with a single laboratory in King George’s Medical University (KGMU) by testing just 72 samples on March 23. “Till Sunday (August 30), the state had tested a total of 56.26 lakh samples. Now the state has over 200 laboratories in government and private sectors,” he said. Speaking after inaugurating 13 laboratories in medical colleges in different districts, through video-conference, Yogi said “in April 5,163 samples were tested daily in the country and the contribution of UP was a mere 6% of the total tests. Now 10,55,027 samples are tested in the country daily and with 1.5 lakh tests per day, UP’s contribution is 15%.” With highest sample tests daily, as well as highest total tests, UP now ranks first in the country. According to the ratio of population, 24,000 tests were conducted per 10 lakh population in the state, Yogi said. He said the state government was continuously working to upgrade, and increase the capacities, of laboratories. The third generation BSL-3 labs are being set up in the government sector, including Shahjhanpur Medical
College, GIMS Greater Noida, SSPH Noida and labs in Kannauj and Gorakhpur Medical Colleges are being upgraded to BSL-3 laboratories. He further said ICMR has approved the installation of the modern Cobas machine in MLN Medical College, Prayagraj. The state government has decided to set up laboratories in all the 75 districts, he added. The chief minister inaugurated 13 laboratories -- ten in government medical colleges in Jalaun, Ambedkar Nagar, Saharanpur, Banda, Badaun, Azamgarh, Ayodhya, Firozabad, Basti and Bahraich districts and three in private medical colleges at GS Medical College and Hospital, Hapur, Mayo Institute of Medical Sciences, Barabanki and Teerthankar Mahaveer Medical College and Research Center, Moradabad. The laboratories will test samples with RT-PCR machines. Yogi said the 34 RT-PCR laboratories in government sector and 10 RT-PCR laboratories in private sector are testing 45,000 samples daily. The state’s 14 medical colleges and institutes have RT-PCR labs. RT-PCR labs have also been established in the nine district hospitals. The state has 99 TrueNat test labs in the government hospitals and 70 TrueNat labs in the private hospitals. Daily around 1.5 lakh samples are being tested across the state, he said. “To intensify the fight against Covid, the state government is committed to increase sample testing. Despite large population, the country and Uttar Pradesh have been able to check spread of infection, control deaths and the positivity rate. The ‘Unlock-4’ starts from Tuesday and there will be increase in activities. Focus should be on contact tracing and better health facilities to the patients,” he said. The chief minister lauded the efforts of KGMU, SGPGI and RML Institute of Medical Sciences Lucknow in testing more samples than their capacity. He pulled up IMS-BHU, GVSM Kanpur, RMRC Gorakhpur and National Jalma Institute, Agra for testing less than capacity.
THE STATE GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED TO SET UP LABORATORIES IN ALL THE 75 DISTRICTS IN UTTAR PRADESH, HE ADDED.