COVID-19: Jammu & Kashmir set to get high-end Roche's Cobas systems

Consultant UNICEF Dr S M Saleem said 20 consoles of the Roche’s Cobas systems were in the process of procurement, the orders for which had been placed earlier.

UNICEF is the procurement agency for the instruments designated by ICMR.

He said that three of these equipments had been allocated to J&K.

“One of the machines will arrive in J&K in two to three weeks as it has already left the country of its origin,” he said.

“The facility will be installed at GMC Srinagar, GMC Jammu and SKIMS Soura.” MD JKMSCL Dr Yashpal Sharma said the machines provide test results in less than half the time of the conventional methods and offer improved operating efficiency, flexibility and fastest time-to-time results.

He said a single console costs around Rs 8 crore and had been sought at the beginning of the pandemic, around March last year.

“However, due to high demand across the world amidst the raging pandemic, it took a long time to get the order,” he said.

Dr Sharma said that the need of the hour was to increase the capacity and efficiency of testing for SARSCOV2, especially while cases continue to rise in J&K and across India. Currently, J&K’s per million tests are among the highest in India.

Apart from GMC Srinagar, SKIMS Soura, GMC Jammu, RT PCR testing has been running at Anantnag, Baramulla and Udhampur.

Head of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at GMC Srinagar Dr Naveed Nazir Shah said that the equipment could be useful for other RT PCR tests also, the need for which may arise in the future.

He said that the provision would also drastically reduce the cost incurred in testing.

. “Fast and reliable diagnostic tests are necessary to provide appropriate clinical support in pandemics and other health emergencies,” he said adding that it would also augment in policy decisions.