Several machines that the state government has borrowed from universities and research institutes for Covid-19 tests cannot be put to use because of lack of personnel, officials said on Monday.

Health department officials had recently sounded out the institutes for volunteers but no one responded, sources said.

Government officials said the fear of getting infected by the novel coronavirus had prompted teachers to avoid going to medical colleges to help install the equipment and train the technicians.

Now, the health department is planning to write to these universities and ask them to send experts.

“The real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines sent by the universities and research institutes are lying unused because of lack of manpower. The number of tests at several testing centres cannot be increased because the universities and research institutes have said they are unable to provide the manpower. The teachers are scared and unwilling to step into medical colleges,” said a health department official.

“We have verbally appealed to these institutes but to no effect.”

Officials said the number of tests at several medical colleges could have gone up had the machines been used.

In Bengal, 47,615 samples were tested till Monday, out of which 4,201 were tested on Monday.

The Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital and the Malda Medical College and Hospital are testing fewer than expected samples despite the RT-PCR machines having been supplied to them.

“We had asked teachers from the pharmacy department to volunteer for installing and running the RT-PCR machines. But none has agreed to go saying they are scared,” said an official of Jadavpur University.

“The teachers told us they could train technicians at the university’s laboratories but would not visit hospitals.”

Metro had on April 30 reported that several state-aided universities and research institutes in Bengal gave testing equipment to medical colleges.

The RT-PCR machines are used for research that requires experiments involving genes. The technique is useful as it helps obtain accurate results.

The urgent need to perform more Covid-19 tests had prompted the state government to ask educational institutes for the equipment.

It takes three to four weeks to procure a RT-PCR machine, if imported. Each machine costs about Rs 1 crore.