'Not possible to set up COVID-19 testing lab in each district'

The Maharashtra government on Friday told the Bombay High Court that it was not practically possible to set up COVID-19 testing facilities in each and every district of the state. In a note submitted before a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice K K Tated, the government said that presently there are 72 testing centres in the state.

Initially, when the pandemic started, there were only three centres one each in Nagpur, Mumbai and Pune. "The number of testing labs have now increased to 72, of which 42 are in government hospitals and 33 are in private centres," additional government pleader Manish Pabale told the court.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by a fisherman Khalil Wasta, seeking a direction to the government to set up full-fledged COVID-19 testing labs in non-red zone districts, like Ratnagiri. Earlier this week, the court had directed the government to inform it (court) on whether testing centres are available in each district across the state.

The bench was on Friday informed by Pabale that a COVID-19 testing facility has been set up at the Ratnagiri Civil Hospital. The government, however, told the court that it was not possible to set up laboratories in each district of the state due to unavailability of resources and technical infrastructure.

"There is no need to have a separate laboratory in each district as the swab test procedure gives sufficient time to send the samples to the designated laboratories within a radius of 250 kilometres as recommended by the Indian Council of Medial Research," a note submitted to the court by Pabale said. "As per the ICMR standards, a new laboratory in a particular district is required to be set up only when the number of suspected COVID-19 cases per day exceeds 100 in that district.

"The spread of the coronavirus is under control in various districts of Maharashtra. Hence, it is not practically possible to start new laboratories in each and every district with the available resources," the note said. The bench directed the government to file a detailed affidavit on its stand and said it shall be filed by a senior officer who is ready to take responsibility for the same.

The court has posted the plea for further hearing on June 2..