BSMMU committee formed to evaluate Gonoshasthaya’s kit 

A six-member team has been formed at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU) to evaluate the effectiveness of the G-Rapid Dot Blot kit produced by the scientists of Gonoshasthaya Kendra to test for Covid-19, said BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Kanak Kanti Barua.

"There are many steps that need to be taken before the trail. The committee members will exchange scientific information. They will make the protocol, and they will start working after the technical committee approves the protocol," said Prof Kanak Kanti Barua.

The former chairman of the virology department at the university Prof Dr Shahina Tabassum has been made the head of the committee. 

On April 30, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) gave approval to determine the effectiveness of the Gonoshasthaya-produced G-Rapid Dot Blot kit.

"The Gonoshasthaya-produced kit will be tested either at the BSMMU or at the icddr,b, or at both institutes. They chose the two institutes and we approved them," said the director general of DGDA Major General Md Mahbubur Rahman.

We will evaluate the results of the performance trial once we receive it. The next step is registration, he added.

On April 25, Gonoshasthaya Kendra handed over the Covid-19 test kit to two organisations, one was the USA based organisation Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the other was the BSMMU. Since then, Gonoshasthaya has been requesting the drug administration for permission to have the kits tested.  

Gonoshasthaya complained that the drug administration was not helping them have the kits tested, but the drug administration denied the allegation. 

On March 17, Gonoshasthaya Kendra said they would produce a kit for the novel coronavirus and on March 19 it started developing the kit.

Dr Bijon Kumar Sil led the four-member team that developed the kit.