Covid-19 tests to begin in Timergara hospital in four days

TIMERGARA: Covid-19 tests would begin in Timergara Teaching Hospital within the next four days, said an official on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Additional Director of the Public Health Reference Lab at Khyber Medical University (KMU) Peshawar, associate professor Dr Asif Ali, said that major equipment of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) had been installed in Dir Public Health Laboratory.

Dr Asif Ali claimed that Dir Public Health Lab (DPHL) had been provided with more advanced PCR machine than that available at National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad and KMU, Peshawar. Medical Superintendent TTH Dr Shaukat Ali, Deputy Medical Superintendent (DMS) Dr Sheraz Ahmad, Dr Javed, Dr Attiq and Dr Salimur Rahman were also present on the occasion. “Up to 400 corona tests would be conducted at this lab on a daily basis,” Dr Asif said, adding that in the first phase, staff of the DPHL would be trained and after comparison of the locally conducted tests with that being conducted at NIH Islamabad, DPHL would start functioning independently. DPHL would be able to conduct measles, dengue, HIV, jaundice and other tests and with the installation of PCR lab at TTH, patients from Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Chitral and Bajaur would get the facility of Covid-19 and other tests locally, which would certainly reduce load on the tertiary care hospitals, Dr Asif Ali added. “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the only province, which had invited the World Health Organization (WHO) and National Institute of Health (NIH) to assess the quality of tests being conducted in public sector labs,” Dr Asif Ali claimed. He appreciated TTH medical superintendent Dr Shaukat Ali for his support and facilitation to the team installing the PCR machine at TTH.