• DC opens new facility at K.R. Hospital Lab
• Rs. 1 crore automated ‘Liquid Handling System’ can conduct 1,200 tests per day

Mysore/Mysuru: The State Government has supplied the much-needed ‘Liquid Handling System’ medical equipment to Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) that will help in giving early results for RT-PCR COVID-19 test.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rohini Sindhuri inaugurated the new facility at the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) in the Department of Microbiology, K.R. Hospital, here yesterday. Going around the Lab, she collected information about functioning of ‘Liquid Handling System’. With this, MMC&RI has become the second premier medical institution in the State to procure this equipment costing around Rs. 1 crore.

MMC&RI Dean and Director Dr. C.P. Nanjaraj said the new medical equipment has been installed in K.R. Hospital Laboratory for testing the swab collected from the citizens. 

The advantage of this equipment is zero human intervention. It offers powerful and intelligent liquid handling that adapts to changing situations. From its easy-to-use-icon-driven software and available application methods to its enhanced work surface with interchangeable tools, it is designed to help work-flow and automate laboratory, he said.

This equipment can handle 96 tests in two hours and give results soon. In a day, it can handle 1,200 tests. Presently, around 2,000 tests were handled at K.R. Hospital Lab and another 1,200 tests at CFTRI Lab. With the installation of new equipment, an additional 1,200 to 1,500 tests could be done and give results at the earliest, he said adding that this facility has now avoided sending samples to Bengaluru Laboratories which were taking a minimum of five to six days to give results. DC Rohini Sindhuri has asked to ramp up the number of tests to 4,000 per day, the Director said.

Dr. Nanjaraj said application engineers have installed this equipment and had given training to the laboratory technical staff. Besides, 10,000 testing kits had been given to them.