Indecision on specifics like manpower and test kits has stalled efforts of the district administration to set up a Covid testing laboratory in collaboration with the Bokaro Steel-managed Bokaro General Hospital for over a month now.

A joint team of officials from Bokaro General Hospital, the district administration and a consultant inspected the proposed site of the RT-PCR laboratory in Sector-V of the steel township on June 2. But not much has moved since then.

While the Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) management has agreed in-principle to provide land and infrastructure, the district administration has promised to provide RT-PCR machines. But it is still unclear who will provide manpower and testing kits.

Bokaro deputy commissioner Mukesh Kumr has written to the BGH management. Sources said that BG authorities had passed on the letter to their parent company, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), and that a reply would be sent to the district administration within a week.

Sources in BGH said it would not be possible for them to provide manpower as the hospital was short-staffed. The minimum number of people required to run a RT-PCR testing centre is five, comprising a data entry operator and four lab technicians who would be working in shifts. Two shifts a day mean 10 persons.

Testing kits were expensive, said an BGH officer. “A box of 100 test kits costs Rs 1.5 lakh. If we do a minimum of 100 Covid tests daily, the cost of kits alone would come to around Rs 45 lakh a month. And BGH is no position to afford that as of now,” he said.

The BGH officer pointed that SAIL had established a Covid Testing Centre at Ispat General Hospital (ISP) of Rourkela Steel Plant in collaboration with the Odisha government in April, and that could serve as the template of operations in Bokaro.

“There the manpower, RT-PCR machine and testing kits are all provided by the Odisha government. BGH, like ISP, is a part of SAIL and cannot have separate commitments and dealings for setting similar testing centres with the state government in Jharkhand,” he explained.

Bokaro sends samples for RT-PCR testing to Dhanbad’s Patliputra Medical College and Hospital where over a thousand reports are pending, said district health sources.

Civil surgeon Dr A. K. Pathak said Bokaro must have its own RT-PCR testing centre if the current target of conducting 3,000 tests by July 25 is to be met.

“Reports of the samples sent to PMCH, Dhanbad, are pending since July 9. Health department had sought help from RIMS-Ranchi and MGM-Jamshedpur but they are unable to pitch in. We have three Truenat machines, but that’s not enough as it can only test 70-90 samples a day. And the health department has to depend on RT-PCR test for confirmations.”