DHAKA, April 1, 2020 (BSS) – The health ministry today said the government
so far launched COVID-19 testing laboratories in five major hospitals across
the country against a plan to introduce the service at 15 healthcare
facilities by this week.
“With the introduction of the COVID-19 lab facility in Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital (MMCH) today, five major hospitals have so far been equipped
with the testing equipment and machineries,” a health ministry spokesman told
BSS.
Public relations officer of the ministry Maidul Islam added that the
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMU) and International
Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDRB) were the centres in capital
where the testing labs were launched.
The testing facilities were introduced Rajshahi outside Dhaka while the
COVID-19 laboratories were expected to be set up in next three or four days
10 more facilities across the country including Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH).
Health officials earlier said the test results would, however, eventually be
disseminated centrally through the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control
and Research (IEDCR) in Dhaka.
DMCH director Brigadier General AKM Nasir Uddin, meanwhile, told BSS that
the largest state-run health facility in the capital was nearly set to launch
the COVID-19 testing free of cost.
“We have run trial COVID-19 tests today and launch the testing in full
scale on the day after tomorrow; if not tomorrow . . . our virology
department will work in collaboration with IEDCR,” he said.
An MMCH official said the main health facility in Mymensingh on the first
day today tested four samples and “we are sending our reports to IEDCR as the
central database.