Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Saturday got the written approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Delhi, to start testing suspected Covid-19 samples, making it Jharkhand’s third such facility.

“We received the email from ICMR this evening and will start testing samples from tomorrow (Sunday),” PMCH principal Dr Shailendra Kumar told The Telegraph.

So far, Jharkhand only had RIMS (Ranchi) and MGM (Jamshedpur) as Covid-19 testing facilities.

The development comes on a day the handholding session of a lab technician and doctor fromPMCH concluded at MGM Medical College in Dimna.

A laboratory technician and a doctor from PMCH completed their four-day training at MGM Medical College.

A lab technician from MGM also finished training his counterparts in PMCH on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, a source in the state health department and a crucial member of the state’s Covid-19 task force said PMCH would start testing samples within hours of

getting a written nod from ICMR.

“With the rise in the number of Covid-19 positive cases, we desperately want to expand our testing capacity. The April 9 revised guidelines of ICMR for testing strategy of Sars-Cov-2 will also lead to an increase in the number of samples. PMCH in Dhanbad can decrease the load on the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories at RIMS and MGM,” the senior official of the state health department said.

He said RIMS and MGM units were working 24x7 to ensure that the list of samples awaiting tests didn’t grow too long. “ICMR cleared the test graph conducted by PMCH and a mail confirming the same has reached the PMCH principal,” he added.

Principal health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said the state was trying to follow the revised testing guidelines from ICMR.

“The revised guidelines state that asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between Day 5 and Day 14 of coming in contact. This will be apart from the existing guidelines of testing all symptomatic individuals with travel history, all symptomatic contacts of laboratory confirmed cases, all symptomatic healthcare workers and all hospitalised patients with severe acute respiratory illness and those in hotspots,” Kulkarni added.

PMCH principal Kumar said the lab technician from MGM found both the RT-PCR unit at PMCH in perfect condition.

“Each RT-PCR unit can test 12 samples daily,” he said.