Drug testing machine worth Rs 1.5 crore lying idle

PANAJI: The functioning of Randox, a state-of-the-art drug abuse testing machine, has come to a standstill in Goa. The apparatus is usually underused at the Goa Medical College’s (GMC) department of forensic medicine and toxicology, and the suspension of the department’s only technician, Machidranath Zalmi, has brought a new crisis to the department.

Zalmi was suspended around ten days ago after GMC authorities mistakenly handed over the body of a young man to CCP authorities as an unidentified one. A source said that with no technician, the department would not be able to operate the machine to conduct drug tests for at least three or four months, or till his suspension is lifted.

With this non-usage, he said the machine’s sample drug kit worth Rs 3 lakh would be rendered unusable as its expiry would lapse. The only way out, sources say, would be to hire a new technician. But even that won’t be easy, as the new recruit would require to be trained for at least two-three months. The trainer, too, would have to be called from New Delhi.

The Randox machine, which costs around Rs 1.5 crore, is often used for suspected overdose cases, which proliferate when tourist season begins. “Most of the cases are received between October and May,” a source said, further adding that the machine just confirms their suspicion. The samples continue to be sent to laboratories outside Goa, as this facility isn’t accredited yet. This lack of accredition also prohibits test results from being produced in court, as the prosecution often demolishes the case by pointing out the lab lacks accreditation.