Cox’s Bazar Medical College lab suspends Covid-19 testing for 2 days
A technical problem occurred with the PCR machines on Wednesday and that was why only 70 samples could be tested that day.
The PCR (Polymeric Chain Re-Action) laboratory at Cox's Bazar Medical College has suspended the testing of Covid-19 for Thursday and Friday for the maintenance of its PCR machines.
Dr Anupom Barua, principal of the medical college, said, "All the active machines should be cleaned after every 15 days and given rest for at least 48 hours. But the two PCR machines at the lab have not been cleaned and given rest since their installation."
A technical problem occurred with the machines on Wednesday and that was why only 70 samples could be tested that day, he said. If the machines are not cleaned and given rest regularly, they could malfunction and then questions could be raised about the quality of the tests, said Dr Anupom.
The initiative of cleaning the machines had been taken as per the directive of The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and the district's Corona Infection Prevention Committee's decision, he said.
"Maybe a very minimal number of samples can be tested during this time. But after 48 hours, the lab will resume work in full swing. Samples will be collected like before and then preserved during the period," added the principal.
