PCMC: COVID Swab testing lab set up at YCM Hospital Pimpri
Pimpri, July 3, 2020: With a surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infected patients in Pimpri-Chinchwad areas, one lakh rapid antigen kits will be availed by the municipal medical department to control it and speed up the swab test of corona suspects. The swab testing will be made available at the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) run Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital, Pimpri. The hospital’s lab has a capacity of 376 swab tests per day.
The rapid antigen kit will be used to test the person who shows COVID-19 symptoms and came in contact with infected patients. The results of the test, whether the person has tested positive or negative will be available within 25-30 minutes. If a person is detected positive for COVID-19, then they will be examined further by the swab test. This antigen kit will save the time and cost involved in the swab test and will help to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Primarily, this kit will be used to test a person who came in contact with COVID-19 patient, pregnant woman, frontline employees and people (who have come in contact with an infected patient) from the containment zone. The YCM Hospital has received the approval of the Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) for setting up a swab testing lab. Swab testing will start from Saturday. This test will help in getting an immediate report of the suspected coronavirus patients faster without any delay, stated Mayor Usha Dhore and ruling party leader Namdev Dhake.
PCMC Commissioner Shravan Hardikar said that most of the patients are in a densely populated area. At present, there are 12 hotspots in the PCMC jurisdiction. The number of tests has been increased to prevent further spread. For this private labs are used and labs in YCM will start testing. Currently, an average of 650 swab tests are examined daily. Labs like the National Institute of Virology (NIV), National AIDS Control and Research Institute (NARI), BJ Medical College, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),Aditya Birla Hospital, Krishna Diagnostic, Viroplay, SG Diagnostic, Dr DY Patil Hospital will be used for testing.
