‘PROCESS ON TO BUY 60 NEW MACHINES TO INCREASE RT-PCR TESTING’

LUCKNOW : Sixty new RT-PCR machines are being procured and 582 staff members will be trained in the next few days as the state government plans to ramp up its capacity to conduct Covid sample tests via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method. Besides, medical colleges will have air separators and liquid oxygen plants soon.

“The labs conducted 1,07,545 RT-PCR tests in the past 24 hours. We plan to double this (daily test) figure in the coming days and the work has begun to achieve the target,” said Alok Kumar, principal secretary, medical education, in a press conference on Thursday.

He said the purchase of 60 RT-PCR machines was in the process and order for the same had been issued. “The training of the new staff members will also be completed soon and number of RT-PCR tests in the state will double soon,” he said.

Kumar said on April 21, the national medical commission in a notification made it mandatory that all medical colleges will have both liquid oxygen and air separation units on their campuses.

“We have 57 medical colleges, including 24 state-run. We are in process of setting up air separators at 17 medical colleges and the machines will be at these colleges by the end of May,” said Kumar. He said the required construction work had begun on the campuses.

“If medical colleges become self-reliant for oxygen, a major issue in treatment will be solved across the state.

Oxygen is one of the key requirements at present for treating Covid patients too,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.

Giving details of the bed strength and increase in it, Kumar said since March 1, 9,000 beds, including 2,705 ICU/HDU beds, had been increased at medical colleges.

“We have almost doubled the number of ICU beds,” Kumar said.