The bench of Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice SHukato Swu on Tuesday directed the state government to maketwo labs functional with ten days and make every effort to setup testing labs at strategic places to facilitate free testingfor COVID-19 in the future.
The direction was given by the court on a PIL filed byKikrukhonuo, a resident of Kohima.
Nagaland does not have any COVID-19 testing lab andthe samples are sent to Assam and Manipur for testing.
Till 3 pm on Tuesday, 639 samples were collected andsent for testing. Of them, reports of 620 samples came in asnegative, while reports of 19 are awaited.
Nagaland has not reported any COVID-19 case, while aperson from Dimapur tested positive in Assam and is undergoingtreatment at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
Officials said the state government is working to setup a BSL-3 (Biosafety Level) lab in Kohima and a BSL-2 lab inDimapur.
Further, the court directed the state government toprovide a sufficient number of PPEs to all health workerstreating COVID-19 patients and looking after persons in thequarantine centers.
It also directed the state to set up ICU facilities atall hospitals identified for the treatment of COVID-19patients and also increase the number of ventilators.
The government was also asked to ensure that there isno shortage of trained personnel for treatment of COVID-19patients and those who are quarantined.
We also direct the State respondents to file theiraffidavit showing their level of preparedness and also astatement showing the materials already supplied for thepersonnel who are on the line of duty," the court said. NBSSOM SOM