Tata Trust and Tata Sons have responded to chief minister Hemant Soren’s request to help the state bolster its battle against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Tata Steel general manager (medical services) Dr Rajan Choudhry on Saturday informed that Tata Trust and Tata Sons had provided 10,000 RT-PCR testing kits for Covid-19 and other medical accessories.

“In response to the chief minister’s request, Tata Trust and Tata Sons have provided 10,000 RT-PCR testing kits to the East Singhbhum civil surgeon (Dr Maheshwar Prasad) for the viral research diagnostic laboratory at MGM Medical College (in Dimna). This apart, 50,000 masks and 25,000 pairs of gloves have been given to the state office of National Health Mission in Ranchi,” Choudhry said.

Tata Steel has also provided five high flow nasal cannula non-invasive ventilators to the state health department for Covid-19 patients with breathing distress.

Tata Main Hospital (TMH) in Jamshedpur, which is the first private health centre to conduct Covid-19 tests in the state, began testing samples from Saturday.

“We have already tested 18 samples. All the reports are negative. We will be communicating the reports to the district administration and also to the state health department,” Choudhry said.

He said though patients (barring Tata Steel employees) would have to pay Rs 4,500 for the test in accordance with the rate fixed by the Union health ministry, but charges would be waived off for poor patients having ration cards.

Sourav Roy, chief (corporate social responsibility) at Tata Steel, said online food delivery app Zomato and Swiggy have also started door-step delivery of fresh vegetables under “From the Farm” programme in association with 93 farmers. Offline orders can also be placed at the outlets in Sonari and Bhalubhasa.