Berhampur: In a first, the state government will set up a public health laboratory at the district headquarters hospital here in Ganjam district where patients will have testing facilities for chronic diseases, a report said Monday.
The district health department is taking steps in this regard and the laboratory will function under the public health department. This was stated here by additional district medical officer (public health) Dr Himanshubala Pattnaik while talking to the media Monday.
A microbiologist has been appointed for the purpose, she said. The microbiologist was identified as Pallavi Pati who earlier worked in the same post in Sambalpur. She will be assisted by two technicians and an attendant in conducting examinations of various samples, she said.
Pattnaik said this is part of a programme conceived by the state government to set up public health laboratories in every district headquarters hospital of the state. The work to establish a laboratory in Ganjam has already begun and all equipment necessary for the laboratory have arrived in the district headquarters hospital in Berhampur, aka City Hospital.
The laboratory will operate from the City Hospital premises where the reason behind diarrhoea various vector borne diseases and chronic diseases could be identified. The laboratory could also identify dengue and malaria viruses and the reason behind the spread of any disease in the district.
The examination of samples to identify various diseases was earlier not possible in the district for which people had to travel to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar for test of their blood and other samples to ascertain the reason behind their disease.
That apart, examinations of drinking water samples could also be conducted at regular interval which will soon become functional from the City Hospital. Notably, such laboratory was only functional at MKCG Medical College and Hospital while a small laboratory with limited facilities was functional from the City Hospital.
PNN