Bokaro General Hospital (BGH) is all set to sign an MoU with the district administration to set up a Covid testing laboratory on Wednesday, a long-awaited move that will help widen the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

Sub-divisional officer (SDO) Shashi Prakash Singh said the MoU document to set up a laboratory to conduct RT-PCR tests was in the final stages. “It will be signed by Wednesday between BGH and the district administration. The lab will be functional within the next 40 days,” he said.

As per the understanding, testing machines, testing kits and consumables would be provided by the state government, while BGH will provide manpower, infrastructure and land.

BGH, a unit of Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) under Steel Authourity of India, is functioning as the dedicated Covid hospital of the district. Tests are being conducted using three Truenat machines at the Bokaro Sadar Hsopital. And now, BGH has also been given a Truenat machine, using which testing would begin from Thursday.

The district health department, however, is solely dependent on the already stretched PMCH, Dhanbad, for confirmatory Covid-19 tests. Reports are delayed by a week. As of now, around 1,400 reports are pending with PMCH.

“As of now, Bokaro has 77 active cases with 33 containment zones," said by Shakti Kumar, the head of the Covid data entry cell.

A senior official of BGH management said installation Covid-19 testing tools was the need of the hour, given the rapid rise in the number of Covid-19 patients. “It will help in providing timely Covid treatment to identified patients,” he said.

Bokaro is first city in the state where SAIL is coming up with Covid testing laboratory jointly with the state government. BG director of medical services Dr A.K. Singh held a meeting with SDO Singh and civil surgeon Dr A.K. Pathak to finalise details about setting up the Covid-19 testing lab late on Monday evening.