Gonoshasthaya Kendra hands over Covid-19 test kits to BSMMU

Gonoshasthaya Kendra on Wednesday handed over its Covid-19 detection kits -- G-Rapid Dot Blot -- to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) authorities for a performance trial. 

Zafrullah Chowdhury, founder and trustee of Gonoshasthaya Kendra, said, "We have submitted 200 kits today."

Dr Bijon Kumar Sil, who led the team in developing the kit, and Dr Muhibullah Khandaker, coordinator of the GR Covid-19 Dot Blot project, handed over the kits to Prof Dr Saif Ullah Munshi, head of the BSMMU's virology department, at the BSMMU, he said.

Earlier, the BSMMU formed a six-member committee, headed by Prof Dr Shahina Tabassum, to conduct the performance study of the Covid-19 rapid testing kits developed by Gonoshasthaya Kendra. 

Dr Saif Ullah is also a member of the committee.

Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury said the BSMMU is supposed to start their activities from Wednesday. He hoped that the performance trial would be completed within a week. 

However, BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Kanak Kanti Barua said, "I have not been informed about the development although I stayed at the institution till 4pm."

The newspaper tried to contact Dr Shahina Tabassum, head of the six-member committee formed by BSMMU, but found her phone unreachable.

The BSMMU authorities did not take the charge of testing kits on Wednesday, which they mentioned in a letter on Tuesday. However, they informed Gonoshasthaya Kendra that the authorities will take the charge later, Dr Zafrullah also said.  

Earlier, the Directorate General of Drug Administration gave Gonoshasthaya Kendra the permission to get its testing kits checked either at the BSMMU, or the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.

On March 17, Gonoshasthaya-RNA Biotech, a sister concern of Gonoshasthaya, declared that it had developed a method named Gonoshasthaya Rapid Dot Blot to detect the novel coronavirus.