Covid-19 testing: Chhattisgarh government to take dicision, says HC

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh high court on Tuesday stated that state government is not in a position to inform the court as to how it could take steps for opening of testing facility of Covid-19 virus at Bilaspur and make operational in the shortest possible time.
The division bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Goutam Bhaduri on Tuesday said that the high court do not want to monitor the issue any further for the reason that CIMS, Bilaspur, does not have the necessary equipment and for RB Hospital, Bilaspur, state government is not in position to inform in this regard to the court.
The high court noted "We leave the issue at the wisdom of the state government and concerned agencies so that people of Bilaspur and the adjacent areas can be helped in this Pandemic situation."
The high court stated that it appears the Virology Laboratory at Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) in Bilaspur, is not going to open soon as it requires equipment which are to be brought from abroad. A private hospital namely; R.B. Hospital, Bilaspur, has the necessary equipment, but it lacks NABL accreditation to start the lab for testing the Covid-19 virus, as per the ICMR guidelines.
Counsel for the SLSA, Ashish Shrivastava, argued that if the state wants to open the lab at Bilaspur it can very well accord permission at the state government level by acquiring the laboratory at RB Hospital, Bilaspur.
During the course of hearing, advocate general Satish Chandra Verma informed that the state government cannot acquire a private lab without following the procedure. The advocate general drew the attention of the high court towards the affidavit of the Director Medical Education and argued that the state government has already written to the ICMR for according sanction to RB Hospital, Bilaspur, for starting the Covid-19 test facility.
The amicus curiae Prafull Bharat submitted that if the laboratory at RB Hospital, Bilaspur, has all the necessary equipment, effort should be made to make it operational for testing of Covid-19 at the earliest.
On April 14, the high court had ordered the state government to take steps for opening of testing facility of Covid-19 virus at Bilaspur within three days and thereafter, the central government shall take steps to accord necessary sanction within next three days. The high court fixed April 17 for next hearing but the high court had again fixed April 20 for next hearing, due to technical reasons for conducting video conferencing hearing.
On Monday, the high court had observed that there were some difficulties with both the governments, and did not allow for to open the laboratory at Bilaspur the testing facility. In the circumstances, the high court had directed the secretary to the government of Chhattisgarh, Department of Health & Family Welfare and the director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur, to hold a meeting and sort out the differences.
During the meeting on Monday, it was discussed and noticed that a road map for starting lab in CIMS Bilaspur has been prepared by AIIMS, Raipur and the training of manpower in respect of CIMS Bilaspur is going to start from April 22, 2020. The gaps were analyzed in detail and it was resolved that the Covid-19 testing in CMS can only be started after procurement of certain critical equipment needed for testing. The state government will take immediate necessary steps for procurement of these equipment as per extant rules. Once these equipment are in place, AIIMS Raipur will take action of granting approval to CIMS for Covid-19 testing.
It was discussed in the meeting, AIIMS has no role in giving approval to a private hospital and the hospital directly applied to Indian Council of Medical Research (IMMR). Further, the lab of private hospital needs to have National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation to start the test, as per ICMR guidelines.
ICMR has also advised the private hospital to obtain NABL accreditation. It was also deliberated and observed that there is no discord or gap of communication between AIIMS and state government and better results in testing, identification and treatment of Covid-19 positive patients was only possible because of joint efforts of these two.