Due to a lack of coordination and support from the health ministry, a good number of laboratories and experts based in universities and government research institutions remain unutilised in the Covid-19 response. At present, people are being screened for coronavirus in 33 designated centres equipped with real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) instruments. Over 3,000 samples can be tested in the span of 24 hours at these centres. However, there are some 26 RT-PCR instruments in 17 public institutions and 46 in 37 private institutions that lay unused during this high time. At these institutions, there are hundreds of scientists and technicians who have specialised knowledge and expertise in handling highly contagious pathogens like coronavirus and using the RT-PCR machines. The lack of coordination and bureaucratic tangle is responsible for underutilisation of capacity to test Covid-19. Out of 17 public institutions equipped with RT-PCR, only three — Jashore University of Science and Technology (JUST), Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU) and Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute have started Covid-19 screening.
Dhaka University has readiness to offer its laboratories for Covid-19 diagnosis, its experts can contribute to provide training at newly developed testing facilities, and their capacity to manufacture RT-PCR test kits at an affordable cost. The National Institute of Biotechnology also has a RT-PCR-equipped BSL-2 laboratory and a team of around 40 scientists that is also left unutilised. Unfortunately, country’s microbiologists and biotechnologists don’t get the opportunity to interact with patients although they conduct extensive research on these subjects using the most modern technology available. On the other hand, doctors frequently interact with patients but they have limited opportunities to conduct fundamental research on these subjects in the medical colleges. When top Western universities are working to develop a vaccine and do researches on genome sequencing, our universities cannot utilize their full talent due to absence of government guidelines. Covid-19 has unwrapped our inability to bring together our healthcare, health preparedness, research and testing facilities for working together to fight a pandemic. The government itself is unmanageable to manage the government’s acts.
We know like most other important sectors the government had no consideration to develop capacities of universities for research activities. To put it mildly our successive governments were absorbed in maintaining themselves in power. Maximum long term damage was done to the universities. Even then the participation of our research scholars could have been a step in the right direction.
