Chief minister Hemant Soren will inaugurate a Rs 2.5 crore worth Viral Research & Diagnostic Lab (VRDL) in the Palamau Medical College at Pokhraha Khurd on Wednesday, July 29. With over 8,000 Covid-19 cases in the state, the opening of a new lab during this pandemic will help conduct tests in the Palamau district.

Palamau Medical College is one of the three new medical colleges in Jharkhand where medical teaching started last year. The two other new medical colleges are at Hazaribag and Dumka. Sources say that a VRDL has already kicked off at the medical college in Hazaribag while it may take some more weeks for the medical college at Dumka to have its own VRDL.

Shashi Ranjan, deputy commissioner of Palamau, told The Telegraph Online, “Our chief minister is scheduled to do an online inauguration of this lab in the Palamau Medical College on Wednesday.”

DC Ranjan added, “Preparations are on. I inspected the medical college on Monday, and saw things are going in the right direction.”

During his visit, DC Ranjan was accompanied by a fleet of officers including deputy development commissioner S Jamuar, civil surgeon Dr John F Kennedy, district social welfare officer Aftab Alam, deputy collector Nazareth Shailesh Kumar Singh, and principal of Palamau Medical College Jyoti Ranjan Prasad.

Principal Prasad says, “No sample for test for Covid-19 will be taken in this lab. Samples will be collected at Palamau Medical College Hospital located in Daltonganj, and then all collected samples will be brought here for test.”

The distance between Palamau Medical College and Palamau Medical College Hospital is 7 km.

Sources say that although this VRDL will be inaugurated on Wednesday, it will take a few more weeks for Covid-19 tests to start here. There is a strong protocol for testing of Covid-19 samples by any new lab.

Sources also say that Ranchi Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) will send some ‘controlled samples’ here for testing before this lab is allowed to start testing on its own.

Principal Prasad adds, “Controlled samples are blind samples. Blind samples are already tested samples but its findings are kept hidden and confidential.”

RIMS will have with it the test report of the ‘controlled samples’ but it will not be shared with the VRDL. After testing, this lab will send its findings to RIMS, where they will match Palamau’s findings with their own. If found matched completely, No objection Certificate (NoC) to begin testing will be granted to this lab.

AIIMS Raipur is the chief mentor of this new lab, while RIMs Ranchi is the secondary mentor of this lab.

Apart from these two, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Delhi will be the apex body to oversee the findings of test samples of both VRDL Palamau Medical College, and RIMS Ranchi.

Principal Prasad says, “The Prejha foundation has set up the lab here and is very involved in the functioning. We believe everything now will move faster than expected.”