THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Indicating a lapse in the health department’s handling of the latest Nipah crisis, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the assembly that the government would examine why the samples were not sent for testing at the state’s Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV) at Thonnakkal in Thiruvananthapuram.
“As per a media report, the samples were initially planned to be sent there (IAV, Thonnakkal) but they were not sent. We will examine what happened,” the CM said after Health Minister Veena George replied to a submission by Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan on the Nipah outbreak. Pinarayi’s remark apparently exposed a lack of coherence within the cabinet over the issue and put the health minister in a tight spot.
Pinarayi said that IAV Thonnakkal was an institution that was fully equipped to conduct all advanced tests and was poised to earn further acclaim. “The government will take steps to support the institution’s further growth,” he said. IAV, located at the Life Sciences Park in Thonnakkal was inaugurated by Pinarayi in 2020 and is the first virology institute in the country to be linked to the Global Virus Network.
Earlier, replying to the submission, the health minister said Kerala has the facilities within the state to test and confirm samples for Nipah. IAV, Thonnakal, and Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, can test the samples. Also, a unit of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Alappuzha is also equipped to test and confirm samples for Nipah. She added that the samples are sent to the NIV headquarters in Pune only for ‘technical declaration’.
Veena said the suspected Nipah samples were tested in a Biosafety Level (BSL)-2 lab at Kozhikode Medical College. She added that on the night of September 11, the samples were tested positive for Nipah. “However, we cannot declare the results. Only NIV Pune can carry out the declaration,” Veena said.
“We are trying to obtain permissions so that the IAV Thonnakkal and MCH, Kozhikode, can declare the results of the test samples,” the minister said. She added that three teams from NIV will visit the state. These include a bat surveillance team, a Biosafety Level (BSL)-3 mobile lab team and an epidemiological survey and assessment team from Chennai.