Gadvasu lab tests 100 samples on Day One

Ludhiana: A week after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) allowed Covid-19 testing at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Gadvasu), a lab was inaugurated on its premises on Monday. The Day One saw the lab testing 100 samples.
The ICMR approval had come on August 3. It is the first government-run laboratory at a veterinary university in the state. Earlier, the health department used to send samples to Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, a day after collecting them in Ludhiana, which led to delay in results.
Dr JPS Gill, director of research and nodal officer of the lab, said, “We have started with 100 samples a day. In the initial stage, the sample number will be less as everything has to be sanitized and we have a small stock. But after a week, it will go up to 250. We aim to achieve within a month a target of processing 1,000 samples daily, but it would depend on the availability of manpower and the number of equipment and kits. We will also get an automated RNA extraction machine.”
Gadvasu VC Dr Inderjeet Singh said, “The lab will speed up Covid-19 testing, as the need of the hour is timely management of the disease.”
Manpreet Singh Chhatwal, special secretary, animal husbandry, said, “Under ‘One Health’ concept, veterinary professionals are widening their sphere of expertise by serving humans too.”
Medical education and research minister OP Soni and food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu inaugurated the lab.
At present over 900 tests are conducted in Ludhiana at the three labs in Gadvasu, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital and Christian Medical College and Hospital.