Staff Reporter :
The Gonoshasthaya Kendra has finally got the permission to get tested the performance of the Covid-19 rapid testing kits developed by the organisation.
Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury said, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) gave the permission by issuing a letter to them on Thursday.
He said, the DGDA said, the performance study of the Gonoshasthaya Kendra’s Covid-19 rapid testing kits can be done either at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) or at Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).
Zafrullah said, they will soon contact the BSMMU authorities to conduct the performance study of their testing kits.
He said, it can take one week to complete the performance study of the locally produced coronavirus testing kits.
Earlier on April 25, Gonoshasthaya Kendra authorities handed over their testing kits to BSMMU and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for final approval.
A team of Gonoshasthaya-RNA Biotech Limited, a sister concern of Gonoshasthaya Kendra, with the help of experts from Singapore developed the method named ‘Gonoshasthaya Rapid Dot Blot.’
On March 17, Gonoshasthaya Kendra declared that they had developed a testing kit that can examine samples, which can detect novel coronavirus infection in 15 minutes.
The team received green signal from the government two weeks ago to import the raw materials for producing the testing kits.
Researchers say, the testing kit can detect coronavirus infection in 15 minutes and is expected to cost around Tk300-350 each.
