PCRs provided to the Indus hospital by PCMD

Indus Hospital has the capacity of running 750 tests a day

Indus Hospital denies National Institute of Virology's statement that it increased testing capacity


​ Our Correspondent April 01, 2020
KARACHI: The Indus Hospital in Karachi has tripled the capacity to make the diagnosis of Coronavirus after joining hands with the National Institute of Virology at Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD), University of Karachi.

The National Institute of Virology has provided four Real-Time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reactions) machines and qualified virology experts to the hospital so that the working burden of diagnosis could be handled easily. The provision of these PCRs has increased the testing capacity from 800 to 2,400 daily.

The announcement came on Saturday after the meeting of virology experts held at the National Institute of Virology. The meeting was also attended by Prof Dr M Iqbal Choudhary, Director of International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Dr Muhammad Rashid, senior research officer of the institute of virology, Dr. Ammar Ather and other scientists.

"The hospital, which is working in collaboration with the Government of Sindh, was facing immense working-load in the process of diagnosis due to increasing number of coronavirus cases in Sindh", said Prof Chaudhary in a statement.

At the moment, the major challenge in Pakistan is of very limited diagnostic capabilities, he said, adding that the WHO has declared the timely diagnosis of the disease as the major step in stopping the spread of COVID-19, as undetected infected individuals are the biggest source of infecting others.

Talking about the significance of this collaboration between a hospital and research facility, Prof Chaudhary said that "Indus Hospital is currently the "epicenter" of all COVID-19 related activities in Sindh, which is the worst-hit province of Pakistan with 65 per cent confirmed cases, thus we think it is an excellent example of a university-based research center helping the national health care system at the time of national health emergency".

The experts in the meeting concluded that taking necessary precautions is the only way to protect ourselves from the contagious virus. Virology expert, Dr. Muhammad Rashid said people must avoid public gatherings. He said that large grocery stores and shopping malls should not be used for shopping, open-street shops, where people are not gathered in large numbers are better options for buying groceries. He added that children should not be allowed to go outside as these holidays were announced in case of an emergency, not for a picnic.

Rebuttal

The Indus Health Network, however, has denied increase in testing capacity and termed the figures as "false". "The Indus Hospital has the capacity of 750 tests per day of COVID-19," it added.

 

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