Jharkhand got its next-generation sequencing type of whole-genome sequencing machine installed at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, on Wednesday, nearly six months after placing the order.

State health minister and Congress MLA, Banna Gupta, admitted the delay which forced the state to rely on genome sequencing machines at Bhubaneswar in Odisha to know the variants of Covid in last two years.

“We had been asking the central government for the genome sequencing machines, but only received assurance. Finally the order was placed earlier this year and since the machine was brought from abroad, it took time due to procedural delay. However, we have got it installed and operational at a time when Covid cases have started increasing again. Now we can know the variant of Covid within 72 hours,” said Gupta after inaugurating the new machine.

The machine installed at RIMS is of the same high-end type as installed at the Institute of Life Sciences (an autonomous institute of department of biotechnology, Government of India), Bhubaneswar.

“The machine from US company Illumina costs over Rs 5.3 crore and 385 samples can be tested at one time and results can be obtained within 72 hours. It would prove helpful in planning strategies to curb transmission and treatment of Covid cases. We had to wait for nearly a month to get reports from Odisha during the critical first and second wave of Covid due to the long pendency of cases in Odisha,” said an official of the newly-inaugurated genetics and genomics department at RIMS.

Associate professor of genetics engineering, Vinay Chauhan, said that apart from Covid, the high-end genome sequencing machines can also study the human microbiome and identify novel pathogens and prove to be helpful in detecting types and power of viruses. It can study RNA and DNA of viruses, bacteria and also humans and help in detection of genetic diseases of children and adults and also help in detection of neurological diseases, genetic cancer and its treatment.

Sources in the health department revealed that the microbiology department at RIMS Ranchi had recommended purchasing a genome sequencing machine in April 2021 but the health department sat on the proposal and it was only in June-July that the proposal was sent to the Centre. The department wrote to the Centre twice, but no clear reply was received in this direction.

In December, the department prepared a proposal to buy the machine on the lines of Odisha and made it available to NHM.

As on Tuesday, the state had 375 active Covid cases, adding 55 cases on Tuesday and one death from Ranchi in the recent days.