14 health establishments designated to review proposals for COVID testing labs

New Delhi, Apr 13 () With the aim of scaling up coronavirus testing facilities, the Union Health ministry has designated 14 health establishments such as AIIMS, New Delhi, PGIMER in Chandigarh and JIPMER, Puducherry to review proposals for approving any new laboratory for COVID-19 testing in different states.

Amid a spurt in cases of coronavirus infections in India, the ICMR has taken into account the need to expand COVID-19 testing facilities in all parts of the country and has initiated a proactive search of potential laboratories which could be enabled for COVID-19 testing, a senior official said.

"These institutions are expected to serve as mentors and facilitate the establishment of COVID-19 testing facilities in respective states.

"They will review the proposals from private and government medical colleges as well as other central government institutions belonging to Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)and Defence Research and Development Organisation among others," a senior scientist at the ICMR said,

According to the officials, the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi will do a comprehensive review of requests for approving any new laboratory for COVID testing from Delhi and Bihar, while Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh will do so for Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttarkhand.

The North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Science (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong will assess all proposals from Assam, Megahlaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

The AIIMS, Nagpur has been allocated Maharashtra (except Mumbai and Pune) and Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu. The AIIMS in Jodhpur has been assigned Rajasthsan and Gujarat, King George Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow has been assigned Uttar Pradesh and AIIMS Bhopal has been allocated Madhya Pradesh among others.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,415 and the number of cases climbed to 74,281 on Wednesday, registering an increase of 122 deaths and 3,525 cases in the last 24 hours since Tuesday 8 am, according to the Union Health Ministry. PLB DVDV