With the nod of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), decks have been cleared for setting up swine flu and dengue testing facility in the laboratory of the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) Hospital. In response to the permission sought by the GDMC to test samples for swine flu and perform Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test for confirmation of dengue in the patients, NCDC has given its permission. Confirming it, the medical superintendent (MS) of the hospital Dr K K Tamta said that after the budget for these setting up these facilities is provided, tenders for purchase of required machines would be floated. He claimed that GDMC Hospital would be able to start these facilities by end of this year.
It is worth mentioning here that in the absence of an approved testing laboratory, the health and family welfare department of Uttarakhand sends the samples of suspected patients for detection of H1 N1 virus ( Swine Flu) to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi due to which the arrival of the reports is delayed. Similarly, the samples are sent to New Delhi for ELISA tests.
The delay in the arrival of reports of swine flu tests from Delhi causes problems to the health department officials, doctors treating these patients and their anxious family members. During the peak season of swine flu NCDC remains so crammed up with the samples of the suspected patients that the process of tests and sending the reports takes at least a week.
The delay in the arrival of reports of swine flu usually results in a situation where either the patient dies or recovers from the disease by the time the report arrives.
Last year, NCDC had authorised the molecular laboratory of the Mahant Indiresh Hospital to perform tests of swine flu. But recently the state health department, based on a report of team of union health ministry, has refused to accept swine flu report sent by this hospital.