Vital viral lab yet to go off the mark

Hubballi: Construction of North Karnataka’s first hi-tech virology laboratory at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) is in limbo. The prestigious project, which was supposed to take off three years ago, is running behind schedule.
As a result, patients suspected to have serious illnesses are forced to wait for more than three-four days for results of their throat swab tests.

According to sources, the project is getting delayed due to the negligence of officers and confusion between the state and union governments over funding for the project. When the Centre announced the project, the state government had agreed to fund the project but later it shot off a letter saying it did not have the funds needed for the project. The Union government recently asked KIMS to submit a revised proposal. However, an official of the health department said he did not understand why the state government has asked the union government to fund the project.

According to the changed plan, a new proposal along with the design of the lab has been sent to the Union government and the design is yet to be approved by experts. Officials said the proposal and design are before an expert committee from the last four months.

The laboratory had become a grave necessity after an increase in the number of suspected H1N1 cases in this region. Last year alone, close to 80 suspected H1N1 cases were registered, out of which 25 were confirmed and five patients succumbed to the disease. This year too, around 82 suspected H1N1 cases were reported and 25 were confirmed.

Hospitals treating patients suspected with H1N1 used to send throat swabs to Manipal Centre for Virus Research, Manipal, which is a reference laboratory. There are no government or private laboratories here to test for the H1N1 virus or any epidemic outbreak in North Karnataka or Hyderabad Karnataka.

The virology lab will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore on 4,000 square feet at a plot identified by KIMS.

KIMS Director Dr D D Bant said, “The new facility will benefit the public a lot and the new laboratory will start functioning at the earliest. As of now, throat swabs of suspected patients are being sent to Manipal and it takes 3-4 days to get the test results. The delay proved fatal in some cases. By next year, if any suspected cases are reported, we can immediately conduct the tests here itself and provide effective treatment based on the results.”