BPKMCH launches COVID-19 test facility

Kathmandu - B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital (BPKMCH) has launched COVID-19 test facility from today. The laboratory where tests for the infection are carried out comes into operation following the permission from the National Public Health Laboratory, Teku, said the hospital's executive director Dr Dev Kumar Gautam.

One hundred seventeen swabs have been collected today and test results are scheduled to come today itself, he said. The charge for a PCR test is Rs 3,500. Approximately 400 swabs could be tested in a day, he said. The hospital is scheduled to inaugurate the laboratory on September 9. The hospital, which receives patients from various parts of the country and neighbouring India, admits patients only after a PCR test for the infection.

Forty six doctors and health workers at the hospital have been tested positive for the virus as of Sunday, said Dr Gautam. Bharatpur Hospital and Chitwan Medical College also provide COVID-19 test facility. Generally, it takes a week for government laboratories in the district for infection test results to come due to the sheer number of swabs for testing. So far, the district witnessed 1,038 infection cases and 22 deaths from the virus. Of the dead, 12 were from the district, it has been said.