Our Correspondent :
No PCR lab has yet been set up in greater Pabna district. As a result, coronavirus has spreaded due to the delay in getting the corona sample test report, but it has not been detected.
However, on July 4 last year, Selim Reza, secretary of the Ministry of Railways in charge of Pabna district, said in an exchange meeting at the Ishwardi Upazila Parishad auditorium to prevent the spread of the corona virus, “Three PCR machines will be set up in Pabna soon to test corona samples.” Plans have already been taken to install one machine with government funding and two more with funding for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project. Although 10 months have already passed, not a single PCR lab has been set up in Pabna yet. Moreover, PCR lab has been set up in Sirajganj district, a subdivision of the former Greater Pabna district.
About 3 million people live in 9 upazilas of the district. At present, about 28,000 workers, including about 3,600 Russians, are working on the Rooppur nuclear power plant in the important Ishwardi. Ishwardi EPZ also employs about 12,500 workers, including foreigners. Considering the importance, setting up of PCR lab is very important. Samples collected from government health centers in the present 9 upazilas are tested through PCR lab at the District Civil Surgeon’s Office, Sirajganj. It takes 4-10 days to get the report after collecting samples in limited range. In the meantime, despite the spread of corona, the situation is likely to take a terrible shape as there is no opportunity for testing.
It is learned that as no PCR lab has been set up in Pabna, six non-governmental organizations in Dhaka and Bogra have set up booths in Rooppur area of Ishwardi with the permission of the health department and are testing samples of workers at the nuclear power plant. Contractors have to spend a huge amount of money for this. These non-governmental organizations include Famous Specialized, TMSS, BMFR, ANZ, New Green City Hospital and Diagnostic Center and DNA Solutions. It is learned that samples are being tested from Dhaka and Bogra after collecting samples at 6 booths. Meanwhile, samples of Ishwardi EPZ workers are being collected and tested from Rajshahi and Bogra. The cost of these tests is 2-3 thousand taka.
Asked about the progress of the promise to set up three PCR labs, District Civil Surgeon Dr Abdul Momen said, “Setting up a lab at Pabna Medical College is under process. Construction of lab infrastructure is in the final stages. If the government provides the machine, the work can start.’
In Pabna, about 250 samples are being sent to M Mansur Ali Medical College in Sirajganj for testing every day and it takes 4-5 days to get the report, he said. However, the victims said that it would take 8-10 days to get the report.
Regarding the setting up of PCR lab, Deputy Commissioner Kabir Mahmud said there is no physical development so far. However, infrastructural preparations are underway. There is no machine in the hands of the Department of Health. He said that the machine will be available in Pabna from abroad.
Meanwhile, Bipul Hossain, a worker of Rooppur Atomic’s Nikimath Company, died in Corona on Thursday. Ishwardi Upazila Health Officer Dr Asma Khan said on Saturday that 17 more people from the company had been infected with corona.
In this situation, the Corona situation is gradually spreading to a terrible extent, but there is no examination system in Pabna district.
