Punjab: Four new Covid labs to scale up daily testing capacity to 13,000

CHANDIGARH: In its fight against Covid-19 in the state, the Punjab government has decided to set up four new testing laboratories, with priority appointment of the 131 essential staff needed for these labs. It also cleared the medical education and research department's proposal to create and fill four posts of assistant professor (microbiology) on ad hoc basis at these four viral testing laboratories.
In it meeting held on Monday, the cabinet gave a go-ahead for setting up new labs in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Mohali, to help scale up the testing capacity from the current 9,000 a day, in three government medical colleges in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot, to 13,000.
The new laboratories would be established at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Ludhiana, Punjab State Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Mohali, Northern Regional Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar, and Punjab Biotechnology Incubator in Mohali.
All appointments will be made through outsourcing from Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, said an official spokesperson. The expenditure of Rs 17.46 lakh per month to be incurred against the 131 staff appointments and Rs 3.06 lakh per month against the ad hoc assistant professor posts would be met from the State Disaster Response Fund. The 131 staff positions would include research scientists (non-medical), research assistants and lab technicians.
The cabinet also approved the re-employment of medical, ayurvedic and dental faculty at government medical colleges and government dental colleges in Patiala and Amritsar, as well as the government ayurvedic college in Patiala, after their retirement at 62 years. While re-employment will be up to the age of 70 years for medical and ayurvedic teachers, for dental faculty, it will be till the age of 65.