In an attempt to take India ahead in its fight against COVID-19, Union Minister for Health, Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Thursday launched India’s first-ever Mobile Lab for COVID-19 testing. The initiative has been undertaken by the government in order to promote last-mile testing in rural parts of the nation.
The mobile lab which goes by the name Infectious Disease Diag Lab (I-Lab) – Rapid Response Mobile Laboratory has been developed in a partnership with Transasia – a diagnostic company, Scient Infra and Kalyani Cleantech, and is capable of carrying out 50 RT-PCR tests, 200 ELISA tests daily.
While addressing the media about the launch, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “In rural areas were laboratories are not there; samples are usually transported which takes time. Therefore, this mobile van will come handy both during and after the Coronavirus outbreak. The I-Lab will be deployed in the interior, inaccessible parts of the country.”
After launching this lab, the Health Minister said, ‘We started the battle of COVID Testing from 1 February on a lab. Today we have 953 labs across the country. Out of these 953, about 699 are government labs. Such innovations have been developed to ensure test facilities in remote areas.
The mobile lab will be on a truck making the commute easier and testing on the go, a possibility. The primary objective of the initiative is to carry out corona tests at inaccessible, slum, and rural areas of the nation where COVID-19 centers cannot be put up. Moreover, these labs can be deployed at airports for better safety.