SAMBALPUR: In yet another turn of event in Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) Burla Covid outbreak, Delhi-based kit manufacturing company, Oscar Medicare Pvt Ltd has claimed that the test kits supplied for detection of Covid-19 were not defective.
To prove its point, the firm conducted a live demo of the kits in the presence of Covid nodal officer of VIMSAR, Burla Sudarshan Pothal and a team of laboratory technicians. The kits used for the live demo were from batch no CAG D-008 and D-014 which were earlier used for testing the samples collected from the VSSUT students.
The live demo was conducted on eight people and the results were negative. Pothal expressed satisfaction over the performance of the kits. Sources said VIMSAR will submit a report regarding the demo to the Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL) soon.
The authenticity of the kits was also examined at ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples were collected from 60 health individuals and the tests were conducted at RMRC from March 3 to 5. All the test results came out negative, informed OSMCL in a letter to the Superintendent of VIMSAR.
While it is still unclear whether the claims of the State government were correct, the firm stated that a small lot of the kits could have been affected due to high temperatures during transit and storage. On February 27, 25 students of VSSUT tested positive through Rapid Antigen Kits. Following the detection, to contain further spread of virus, the district administration declared all the hostels of the university as micro-containment zones and the area near Pulaha hostel as buffer zone.
However, on March 2, the State government said the kits used for the students were faulty as the confirmatory RT-PCR tests turned out to be negative. Subsequently, OSMCL served show-cause notices to Oscar Medicare and a Haryana-based firm, Alpine Biomedicals Pvt Ltd for supplying defective or substandard kits.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health department, PK Mohapatra said RMRC will find out whether the claims of the company are true or there are any issues with healthcare workers handling the samples at VIMSAR. “We are waiting for the detailed investigation report,” he added.