Jharkhand is trying to enhance testing capacity of samples for the novel coronavirus.

State health minister Banna Gupta said the government was expecting in a day or two the nod of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for starting a facility in Dhanbad and another near Itki TB Sanatorium in Ranchi.

Gupta on Monday inspected the 10-bed isolation facility at the state-owned MGM Hospital in Sakchi.

“We are expecting nod of the ICMR in a day or two for PMCH in Dhanbad and at Itki near Ranchi and hope to start testing samples this week,” Gupta said.

“This would give us a capacity to increase manifold our testing capacity not only for Covid-19 but also for other viruses in future,” he added.

Currently, MGM Medical College can test a maximum of 40 samples a day while RIMS in Ranchi can test 90 in a day.

Gupta admitted the need for more ventilators and PPE (personal protective equipment) for frontline healthcare workers including doctors.

“They have only one ventilator at the (MGM) isolation ward while ideally all the beds should have separate ventilation. We have placed our requisition with the Centre for 300 ventilators and large numbers of PPE. But so far we have not received any consignment,” said Gupta.

On Monday Gupta also inaugurated a liquid oxygen plant facility with 13,000 litre capacity, set up in association with Praxair India at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore, on the MGM hospital premises.

Liquid oxygen is used to treat respiratory disorders and is believed to be more effective than oxygen concentrators or oxygen cylinders.

A Covid-19 help desk started at MGM from Monday.

Later in the evening Gupta, who is the Jamshedpur West MLA, interacted with shopkeepers in Kadma to know their grievances.