Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Aug 17: In a major development the Health Department has rejected nearly 20,000 freshly arrived Rapid Test Kits and to deal with the situation immediate orders have been placed today for 5000 those Rapid Test Kits, which were supplied earlier to Andaman.
According to sources the fresh batch of 20,000 COVID-19 Ag Respi-Strips was rejected because of the supplier did not supply all the accessories and component with the kits. Not only that these kits do not provide point to care tests. Point-of-Care (POC) or with-patient testing allows physicians and medical staff to accurately achieve real-time, lab-quality diagnostic results within minutes rather than hours.
The Health Department had earlier got supply of 5000 Rapid Test Kits from SD Biosensor, which showed nearly perfect results and were extensively used in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These kits from SD Biosensor were extremely helpful in conducting point to care tests also right from bedside (for patients) to roadside (for ATR commuters).
“We got different Rapid Kits than what we had actually ordered and hence we are returning the kits. An immediate new order has already been placed this morning by the Chief Secretary for 5000 kits, which we received last time and the concerned company has also been asked to deliver the kits within two to three days,” a senior Health Officer told Andaman Sheekha today.
He said that another batch of 15,000 similar kits will also be ordered soon.
At this point of time when the ICMR is overloaded with samples and the numbers of COVID19 cases are on rise, unavailability of Rapid Test Kits for nearly two to three days might prove costly as nobody knows how deep the corona virus has penetrated in these Islands.
The only relief is that the fault in Rapid Test Kits is in the knowledge of Health Department and orders have already been placed for fresh batch of reliable Rapid Test Kits.
