COIMBATORE:The atmosphere and facilities available to set up the Viral Research and Diagnostics Laboratory (VRDL) at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) is excellent and the administration of the hospital has provided a conducive space for the proposed lab to become a reality, said Dr G Sreedharan, Scientist and Consultant of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Speaking to Express while he arrived at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital to inspect the site identified for the laboratory, he said, “I will definitely recommend to get this sanctioned in the meeting to be held on July 3 in Delhi. By the end of August, the funds needed for the lab will be sanctioned.”
“The lab staff will be trained by the faculties of the National Institute of Virology. They will be appointed in a phased manner and the appointments will be completely on the basis of the norms stipulated by the ICMR,” added Sreedharan.
On funds that would be sanctioned for the lab, he said that it would be decided by the State government after the project has been sanctioned. Last month, RP Meena, the then Joint Secretary of the Department of Health Research (DHR) under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, had visited the CMCH to assess the facilities available prior to setting up the lab here and the Dean of the hospital had submitted a proposal to the ICMR through the State government.
This lab will be one of the two grade-2 VRDLs to be opened in TN this year. The Bio-safety Level-2 lab is expected to carry out serology, RT-PCR, isolation, fluorescence microscopy, tissue culture and sequencing of viruses. It will carry out basic and applied research on viruses, development of kits and diagnostic reagents and identification of unknown or referred samples.
ICMR has been sanctioning such labs in medical colleges across the country to facilitate viral disease diagnostics at the time of outbreaks.
