AKUH starts testing samples for coronavirus

Following the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) has started analysing samples for the novel coronavirus after it acquired primers and probes to diagnose the lethal 2019-nCoV.

“The test for detection and diagnosis for the novel coronavirus is available from tonight (Tuesday night) after we acquired the primers and probes from an international source. We have 19 suspected patients’ samples, which will be analysed for the presence of novel coronavirus,” said Dr Faisal Mahmood, head of infectious diseases at the AKUH, while talking to The News on Tuesday.

Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and coordination officials have designated three institutions of the country -- the NIH Islamabad, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and the AKUH in Karachi -- as the focal points for the diagnosis of coronavirus, but these centres would be apprising the ministry of the results prior to announcing them or even letting the patients know of their health condition.

Not a single person has been diagnosed positive for the novel coronavirus so far. Tests have been conducted on 47 suspected patients at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, officials at the Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination said, adding that strict precautionary measures and state of high alert at the entry points and the airports had prevented the entry of coronavirus in the country.

Officials said samples sent by them to some international labs for the diagnosis of coronavirus had also come negative. They added that they were now providing the diagnosis kits to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Lahore, and athe Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi to enhance their diagnosis capacity to test suspected patients.

Officials at the AKUH said that in addition to purchasing primers and probes from abroad, the AKUH was also going to acquire kits containing primers and probes from the NIH, Islamabad, in a couple of days, which would further enhance their capacity to test suspected patients.

“At the moment, we have samples of 19 suspected patients, most of whom were discharged after their condition improved, but we have kept their samples preserved for the analysis,” said Dr Faisal Mahmood.

Responding to a query, Dr Mahmood said that so far no treatment was available for the pneumonia-like disease caused by the coronavirus, saying that only symptomatic treatment was being given to patients who tested positive for the new virus.

“But the best option to deal with this health condition is prevention. If we practise the same preventive measures which are used to avoid contracting flu virus, we can prevent ourselves from this novel coronavirus infection,” he said, adding that washing hands with soap regularly, practising social distancing and using facemasks could prevent people from catching not only coronavirus but also from other lethal infections, including H1N1 and Influenza B.

The Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, the virology centre at the University of Karachi and other institutions in Lahore have also ordered primers and probes to diagnose novel coronavirus.