To fight against COVID-19, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked higher education and research institutions to facilitate deployment of RT-PCR test machines available with them at nearby district hospitals and government labs conducting COVID-19 tests.
The higher education regulator has noted that temporary deployment of such machines can create additional facilities for around 60,000 tests per day.
UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain said, “In order to address the increasing demand for COVID-19 testing, it is essential that the test centers are strengthened further by the addition of more RT-PCR machines. There are a large number of machines available with educational and research institutions under various departments and are capable of performing RT-PCR tests and currently, not being used in any critical area.”
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“It has been elucidated that by temporarily deploying such machines in district hospitals and government laboratories, additional testing facilities of about 60,000 tests per day can be created. “In view of this, all higher education institutions and research institutions are requested to facilitate temporary deployment of machines from the institutes in consultation with the department of health research in district hospitals and government labs performing COVID-19 tests by August 31,” he added.
