ISLAMABAD:National Institute of Health (NIH) has provided three mobile laboratories to Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to strengthen capacity to diagnose COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.
According to NIH, these labs will help provinces especially during disease outbreaks in remote locations where access to testing may be limited.
These mobile laboratories will strengthen the diagnostic capacity of the provincial health departments, and enabling the government to respond quickly and effectively in hard-to-reach remote areas during emergencies, or an outbreak and epidemics.
In this connection, two mobile diagnostic labs were deputed in the flood-affected areas of Sindh. The mobile labs were parked in Badin and Larkana.
A three-member team from NIH including a doctor and two molecular biologists were deputed to run the labs at Badin and also they trained district health lab staff on the operations of mobile lab.
Influenza, Malaria, Dengue, and SARS-CoV-2 samples were investigated by utilizing the mobile diagnostic laboratory.