Chennai : Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma.Subramanian today inspected a Mobile COVID-19 diagnostic facility launched by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M).
He also inaugurated a mega vaccination camp in the institute for the benefit of residents of the campus as well as those in neighbouring areas. The Mobile Diagnostic Facility, called ‘Parakh,’ is housed in a van which can be deployed for testing samples to detect COVID-19 infection.
It would be especially useful to detect outbreaks in remote and rural areas where testing facilities might not be available.
This van can travel to those regions, perform sample collection, processing, and analysis, everything in real-time, a release from IIT-M said.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Subramanian said, “I am happy to review the Mobile Diagnostic facility was gifted to IIT-Madras by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Enterprise set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh. This will benefit everyone and is being operated by a large technical team.