A mobile Covid-19 diagnostic facility that can travel to areas difficult to access for conducting tests was inspected by Tamil Nadu Minister Ma Subramanian at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras here on Saturday. "The unit 'Parakh' has been housed in a van which can be deployed in remote locations for testing samples to detect Covid-19 infection. The facility would be useful to detect outbreak in rural areas where testing facilities immediately not available," IIT Madras said.
The van can travel to such difficult to access areas, perform sample collection, process and analyse everything on a real-time basis, a press release said. The Minister for Medical and Family Welfare along with Health department Principal Secretary J Radhakrishnan and IIT Madras Director Professor V Kamakoti inspected the facility at the IIT Madras.
"I am happy to review this mobile diagnostic facility which can detect diseases and has been gifted to IIT Madras by BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) at Rs 50 lakh. This lab would benefit everyone and was being operated by a large technical team," the Minister said.
Subramanian also inaugurated a vaccination camp at the IIT Madras campus coinciding with the 19th Mega Vaccination Camp currently being held across Tamil Nadu by the health department. "This vaccination camp will be for the benefit of faculty and staff of the institute along with the public residing in the area", he said.
Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council funded the mobile diagnostic facility while the chassis of the van was donated by German truck manufacturer Daimler India Commercial Vehicle, makers of Bharat Benz range of trucks and the lab testing equipment was provided by Microflow Devices India Pvt Ltd. IIT Madras, Director professor V Kamakoti said the vaccination camp would ensure that the message reaches the public and encourages them to take the vaccine, especially the youngsters less than 18 years and those who are more than 60 years for their booster doses.
"IIT Madras is committed to these camps and the public is invited to take part in these camps", he said. According to IIT Madras, department of biotechnology, Head, professor Guhan Jayaraman, the mobile diagnostic facility can be deployed for surveillance of any infectious diseases such as dengue, tuberculosis and other kinds of viral outbreaks. The facility can do testing and analysis in real time and connect with hospitals and health centres in urban areas. The data can be thus accessed more quickly by health officials and enable a more rapid response, he said.
With PTI Inputs
