Mohali gets two labs for testing Covid-19 samples

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, August 8

Punjab Medical Education Minister Om Parkash Soni and Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu will inaugurate two laboratories set up in the district to ramp up Covid-19 testing on Monday.

Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) Vice-Chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur said after getting approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research, Covid testing labs were set up at Punjab Biotechnology Incubator (PBI) and Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory (PFSL). He said both labs had started functioning. The PBI and the PFSL were given 25 and 33 samples, respectively, for testing today.

It is pertinent to mention here that the BFUHS has been entrusted the task of setting up Covid testing labs in Mohali as well as at Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar, and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana.

Dr Raj Bahadur said each lab was set up on over 1,000 sq ft and constructed by the Punjab Engineering Department. The cost of the paraphernalia of each laboratory was more than Rs1 crore.

He said each laboratory was expected to test 1,000 samples a day. He said at present, sample testing was being done at three government medical colleges located in Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot.