The Gonoshasthaya Kendra unveiled its Covid-19 testing kits on Saturday where no government official concerned was present. The Gonoshasthaya-RNA Biotech Limited, a concern of Gonoshasthaya Kendra in Bangladesh, has developed method — Rapid Dot Blot — to test COVID-19 under the leadership of Microbiology Department head Bijon Kumar Sil. The test kits were handed over to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for government’s approval. The researchers said they have internally validated the kit after manufacturing and found it to be successful where COVID-19 can be diagnosed within five minutes. The kits will be handed over to the Directorate General of Drug Administration, World Health Organization and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology on Sunday. Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury said they had invited the Directorate General of Drug Administration officials at the programme but none of them came. He said they can supply one lakh kits after getting government’s approval.
It’s hard to believe for us that a locally invented medical kit – very essential to detect fatal coronavirus and also very cost effective for producing locally in bulk amount – could be neglected by the government. They’re not outsiders. Our scientists and researchers have made it possible to have the kits giving endless efforts and using their extraordinary talents. Presently, polymerise chain reaction (PCR) and antibody testing are the dominant ways that global healthcare systems are testing citizens for COVID-19. Bangladesh is familiar with PCR and presently using the Chinese testing kits. If these kits are not applicable for corona testing then government can say it officially. When country is in dire need of testing kits, the Health officials have exposed themselves as partisan activists remaining absent in the programme. They have no sympathy for the people vulnerable to corona infection. Earlier, we heard that the Gonoshasthaya Kendra had to face a lot of difficulties, including sudden power cut in its laboratory, during making process of the kits.
There are several hundred scientists and researchers in various projects under different ministries including health ministry who have no contribution in the field of science except taking fat salaries and availing unnecessary foreign trips. We doubt whether these politicised people are competent enough to verify the potentiality of Gonoshasthaya kits.
