AMU to purchase another machine for COVID-19 test

NEW DELHI: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is purchasing another machine worth Rs 35 lakhs that can test for COVID 19. The machine is for its Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital. Having a second machine on campus will help speed up the diagnosis of coronavirus infection.

Tariq Mansoor, Vice-Chancellor, AMU said in a statement that the machine they already have at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) has the capacity to do 60 tests in a day. This machine diagnoses 15 samples in six hours and 60 reports can be prepared in a day. With the help of the new machine, JNMC will be able to conduct 120 tests per day. The decision to buy another machine was taken in the wake of the increasing number of test samples coming in from Noida, Agra and other nearby places in Uttar Pradesh.

M Shafey Kidwai, AMU spokesperson, told Times of India: “As AMU’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) is one of the five authorised centres to carry out tests for novel coronavirus across the state by ICMR, the university has decided to get another machine following the rise in number of screening samples of suspected cases with symptoms and travel history to the affected countries,”

Follow lockdown

India is currently under a preventive lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus to new people and new regions within the country. Only specified essential services will continue to work.

The Vice-Chancellor has requested all the students and employees of the university to follow the lockdown strictly. Only employees involved in the essential services will report for the duty.

In line with advisories issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the educational institutions in the country have been closed and the classes were cancelled.

At AMU, the reading halls of the library and research laboratories have been closed and only 4,500 students out of 13, 000 students are still in the residential halls.

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