Manipur Health Minister Langpoklakpam Jayantakumar on June 6 said that the state health department has decided to use a mobile testing kit for COVID-19 to reduce the turn-around time of test results.
This will benefit the people in far flung and hill areas, he noted.
Jayantakumar also visited different quarantine centres set-up in Senapati district. He also visited the district hospital at Kangpokpi and discussed the difficulties faced by the office.
Social Welfare Minister Nemcha Kipgen, Minister TA & Hills N Kayasii, PHED Minister Loshi Dikho, also took part in the tour.
Jayantakumar said that the medical equipment and staff to fight the pandemic in the state are not sufficient, commenting on the Cabinet approval to recruit 300 doctors.
He added that the recruitment of 106 staff nurses under National Health Mission, which was pending due to the current situation, will be finalized. This will fill the shortage of staff nurses to some extent.
The present capacity of COVID-19 testing in the state per day is above 1000 but this is not proportionate to influx of returnees, which demands more tests per day. In this regard, the government is making efforts to increase the testing capacity more that the current limit, minister added.
Jayantakumar said that the novel coronavirus is mutating very fast, which necessitates adherence to the norms given by the WHO, ICMR and health experts.
