Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 13: J&K Health and Medical Education Department today achieved another milestone in getting the Corona testing facility (RT-PCR) at CSIR-IIM, Canal Road, Jammu registered as an independent testing center by the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi.
“In its communication to the CSIR-IIM Jammu, the ICMR conveyed its decision to register the center after getting virtual inspection and fulfilling all technical formalities,” an official spokesperson said.
It is pertinent to mention here that CSIR-IIM Jammu was conducting the RT-PCR testing of Corona patients after a memorandum of understanding was signed between Principal, Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu and Director IIM Jammu but the reporting were being done by GMC Jammu being the only ICMR registered body in Jammu.
“As this practice was leading to undue delay in release of reports, the Financial Commissioner, H&ME Department J&K, Atal Dulloo, directed the Nodal Officer, CSIR-IIM Jammu, Dr Harleen Kour (Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, GMC Jammu) for Corona testing to initiate the process to get the center registered independently with ICMR,” the spokesperson said.
He said accordingly, the matter was taken up with the concerned authorities at ICMR, New Delhi which after getting itself satisfied with the facilities available at this BSL-3 laboratory and tedious course of virtual inspection, today granted registration to CSIR-IIM as independent Corona testing facility.
With this the Union Territory of J&K has now seven testing facilities in the region. To further strengthen the technical staff of the testing facility, more technical staff was deputed to the center on the directions of Mission Director, NHM and Incharge Conrona Testing of the UT.
The deputed staff are Rajiv Chopra (from Pathology Department of GMC Jammu), Kapil Sharma (Blood Transfusion Medicine), Gurpreet Kour (Biochemistry) and Lakhvinder Singh (Biochemistry).
Dr Inshaad Ali Khan, senior scientist, CSIR-IIM Jammu said that the process of releasing the report will now become easier and the reports will be issued without any undue delay.
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