S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Guwahati work is all about bringing out affordable sterile SPILD VTM kits, RT-PCR kits and RNA isolation kits.
IIT Guwahati work towards developing these kits was done in association with RR Animal Healthcare Ltd with inputs from GMCH.
IIT Guwahati work 2020
These kits have good demand and are available at high prices. Keeping these points in view National Health Mission (NHM) unit in Assam has approached IIT Guwahati.
And, that is how IIT Guwahati work towards developing these kits at affordable prices is said to have begun.
The requested kits were already under development stage and on knowing the immediate requirement of them in high quantity work towards making them in larger quantities began.
IIT Guwahati work was taken up by research teams led by Prof. Parameswar Krishnan Iyer, Prof. Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh from IIT Guwahati and Dr. Labanyamoy Kole of RR Animal.
IIT Guwahati work ensured that the making of the kits was in tune with the standards laid down by the GMCH. About 950 VTM kits have been already delivered.
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These kits have been tested and validated. The moment turned celebratory when the Viral Transport Media (VTM) kits were launched by Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Minister of Finance, Health and Family Welfare.
Speaking about IIT Guwahati work involved in bringing out these kits Himanta Biswa Sarma said IIT Guwahati work that went behind bringing out these kits in association with other organisations deserves a praise.
Assam has been successfully leading the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and our initiatives have gone a long way in containing this disease in the entire north-eastern region.
We want to identify and contain this disease at an early stage and it is vital that we have all the crucial kits and materials so that our frontline healthcare workers and doctors who are doing a commendable job do not face any hurdles.
‘We are very happy with IIT Guwahati work that went behind in making these VTM kits and other COVID-19 related kits.’
I congratulate the director of IIT Guwahati and the faculty members for this development as well as acknowledge other help being provided to us, he said.
Director of IIT Guwahati, Professor T.G. Sitharam said
they are thankful to Himanta Biswa Sarma for launching these VTM kits.
IIT Guwahati work was done based on request from the state government. He further added that IITG has been in the forefront in this fight against COVID-19 and has been supporting the Assam state government in this time of pandemic.
IIT Guwahati work towards making these VTM kits began soon after they received a request from the Director of NHM.
The first batch have already been delivered to GMCH. IIT Guwahati work towards making India self-reliant (Atma Nirbhar Bharat) is also getting full impetus, he said.
They are fostering relations with the healthcare products manufacturing industry in Assam, he said.
Speaking more about this IIT Guwahati work Prof. Parameswar Krishnan Iyer said this collaboration of academia with industry and the timely development of these high quality sterile kits immensely help.
It will help in conducting large scale testing and identification of COVID-19 cases and prevent the spread of this pandemic, he said.
Prof. Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh said the IIT Guwahati work right from kit development to scaling up was very exciting since the demand from GMCH and NHM, Assam was immediate and with industry joining IIT G, we could deliver the necessary ‘SPILD’ VTM kits successfully.
Dr. Debashis Dutta, director, RR Animal Healthcare Ltd., said they are very delighted to jointly work with IIT Guwahati and the Assam State government for the development of these COVID-19 diagnostic kits which has given us an opportunity to serve the society, especially in north-east region of India at this time of pandemic.
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We look forward to provide an affordable and high quality one health solution to the region and the entire nation, he said.
IIT Guwahati work is not only about making SPILD VTM kits it is also about making SPILD RNA isolation kits and SPILD RT-PCR kits jointly with RR Animal Healthcare Ltd. which are imperative to safely isolate the RNA from COVID-19 virus.
The purified RNA are then converted to DNA by an enzyme Reverse Transcriptase, which are utilized to confirm the presence or absence of COVID-19.
The large scale production of all these kits has commenced to meet the requirement of the Assam State as well as will be made available across the country.