Covid-19: GBA demands involvement of biochemists, molecular biologists
They also complained that although they offered the government helping to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic but the government did not respond yet
The Graduate Biochemists Association (GBA) has proposed the government to include biochemists and molecular biologists, epidemiologists, vaccine researchers and economists in the National Advisory Committee to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Biochemists and molecular biologists will work diligently to create the necessary test kits by sequencing the genome of the virus and make VTM if they get the government support, said GBA issuing a press release on Saturday.
They also complained that although they offered the government helping to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic but the government did not respond yet.
The association complained that Dhaka University, earlier, sent a letter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stating how the universities could cooperate to fight Covid-19. But the authorities concerned did not respond over the letter.
Despite the huge role of molecular biologists in corona prevention, no biochemist or molecular biologist has been included in the 17-member National Advisory Committee formed on 18 April 2020.
Dr Anwar Hossain, former vice chancellor of Jahangirnagar University, said that corona resistance is a war at present.
"The countries that have so far successfully tackled the pandemic; we can utilize and follow their experiences."
He also said like other countries in the world, Bangladesh needs a coordinated approach to this war so that doctors, as well as researchers, have the opportunity to work together.
Ferdousi Quadri, a prominent vaccine researcher and international scientist, said, "The quality of the tests which are being conducted at present needs to be controlled. But it is seen that the test kits are being changed every few days. Samples are being stored in normal saline instead of VTM which is reducing the quality of the sample."
GBA said that scientists are scrambling to find a vaccine for the virus, which causes rapid mutations in its genome. Several countries have succeeded in preventing corona by identifying and isolating infected people through a sufficient number of tests.
"But sadly, we are still far behind. One of the main reasons for this is the mistake of policy making decisions regarding the test. The worldwide gold standard method for corona detection is RT-PCR. This technology is not used in general medical practice. This molecular technology is frequently used in various universities for research on RNA / DNA and is always used by students and teachers in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Genetic Engineering," GBA informed.
According to GBA, the students and teachers of all these departments have both theoretical and practical knowledge about this technology. Although all these experts have been used to identify corona worldwide but Bangladesh is an exception to do so.
