Insta
‘Kits Need To Be Stored At Cool Temp To Work Properly’: ICMR On Mamata Govt’s Faulty Test Kit Allegation
Swarajya Staff
Apr 20, 2020, 05:37 PM | Updated 05:37 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Dr R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology & communicable diseases at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has refuted allegations made by the Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government of being supplied with faulty Covid-19 testing kits.
5/5 The apparently defective test kits supplied by ICMR-NICED, Kolkata are resulting in a high number of repeat/ confirmatory tests and causing delays and other attendant problems at a time when we are battling a pandemic. This is an issue that ICMR needs to look into immediately
— Department of Health & Family Welfare, West Bengal (@wbdhfw) April 19, 2020
Dr Gangakhedkar during the press briefing today said that the RTCPR kits are US FDA approved and come with a high quality standard.
#WATCH "We have received a grievance that In West Bengal, RTPCR kits are not working properly. These kits are US FDA approved & have good standards, only thing is they should be stored under 20 degrees temperature, otherwise, results may not be correct": R Gangakhedkar, ICMR pic.twitter.com/wQponrqUXy
— ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2020
Dr Gangakhedkar though cautioned that the test kits need to be stored at a temperature below 20 degree Celsius otherwise the results may not be accurate. He added that such an issue may arise when a technician inadvertently places the kit at room temperature during testing.
He also said that the institute has decided to send additional kits worth 10,000 tests to the Bengal government to temporarily tide over the crisis.
Get Swarajya in your inbox.
Magazine
