Staff Reporter :
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is going to start antigen-based rapid testing for coronavirus at nine district hospitals and one medical college from Saturday onwards.
Dr Habibur Rahman, spokesperson for the DGHS, confirmed this to media on Wednesday.
“Initially, we are starting antigen-based rapid testing at nine district-level hospitals and at one medical college from Saturday. It will be expanded to other districts from the next week,” said Dr Habibur Rahman, also the director of Management Information System (MIS) at DGHS.
The hospitals are in Panchagarh, Gaibandha, Joypurhat, Patuakhali, Meherpur, Munshiganj, Jashore, Sylhet, Madaripur and Brahmanbaria districts.
Of them, the only medical college hospital — Shaheed Shamsuddin Medical College Hospital — is in Sylhet.
Asked about how many rapid antigen test kits they have collected so far, he said, “We have enough kits. A consignment of antigen kits already has reached Dhaka airport.”
The kits are “(most likely) from South Korea”, he informed.
On September 17, the government permitted antigen-based rapid testing for Covid-19 at public healthcare centres after months of bureaucratic tangles.
Initially, the government had planned to introduce antigen testing facilities at 10 specialised and 39 district hospitals, including those designated to treat Covid-19 cases across the country.
These healthcare installations do not have coronavirus testing facilities yet.
Private hospitals have not been allowed to use antigen-based rapid testing so far.
