COVID-19 Pandemic has spread rapidly in India and other parts of the world. IISER Kolkata responded to the pandemic very well in many ways like forming a dedicated taskforce for monitoring the evolving situation of COVID-19 and its possible impact on IISER Kolkata community. Institute volunteers are actively involved in spreading awareness about social distancing and the importance of using masks etc in and around IISER Kolkata.
The COVID-19 testing facility for Nadia district jointly set up by College of Medicine and Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Kalyani, IISER Kolkata and Kalyani University at JNM Hospital is running from the beginning of June, 2020.
The objective of this website is to archive all the past and ongoing COVID-19 related efforts at IISER Kolkata.
The COVID-19 testing facility for Nadia district jointly set up by College of Medicine and Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Kalyani, IISER Kolkata and Kalyani University at JNM Hospital is running from the beginning of June, 2020. This facility was set up at a crucial period of the COVID-19 pandemic when it was envisaged that the rate of infection would be increasing drastically in the coming days, and besides the metropolises, the districts and rural areas will also get affected. Over the last four months, the COVID-19 testing facility at JNM Hospital has done a stupendous job in testing of COVID-19 patient samples from Nadia district, which is thought to have contributed greatly in testing, tracing and isolation in the district, consequently controlling the rate of transmission in Nadia district successfully.
IISER Kolkata has played a pivotal role in setting up and operating this test facility. IISER Kolkata has donated two of the three Real Time PCR machines of the facility, an Applied Biosystems 7500 Real-Time PCR system and a Quantstudio3 Real-Time PCR system. The availability of these two machines has allowed the facility high versatility in using many different types of RT-PCR kits being provided by the government for doing the tests. Dr. Partho Sarothi Ray, nodal officer for the facility appointed by IISER Kolkata has played an important part in setting up the facility, training the operators in viral RNA extraction and Real Time PCR techniques and in the day to day planning and operations of the facility. With a young and dedicated group of technicians, and an automated RNA extraction system, the facility now handles around 700 patient samples per day from all over Nadia district, contributing greatly to the nationwide efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The JNM Hospital test facility is a great example of collaboration between a government hospital and a national research institute, between scientists and clinicians, in successfully working together in a public cause.