Punjab to set up 4 new COVID testing labs with 4 Ad-Hoc Asst Professors and 131 essential staff to boost testing capacity
The Punjab government has decided to set up 4 new testing laboratories, with priority appointments of the 131 essential staff needed for these labs.
The Cabinet also cleared the proposal of the Medical Education and Research Department to create and fill up four posts of Assistant Professor (Microbiology) on Adhoc basis in these four viral testing laboratories.
The state cabinet, at its meeting on Monday under Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, gave the go-ahead to set up the new labs in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Mohali, to help scale up the testing capacity from the current 9000 a day, in the three Government Medical Colleges at Patiala, Amritsar, and Faridkot, to 13000 tests per day.
The new laboratories would be established in Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana; Punjab State Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Mohali; Northern Regional Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar; and Punjab Biotechnology Incubator, Mohali.
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All the appointments will be made through outsourcing from Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, said an official spokesperson. The expenditure of Rs 17.46 lakh per month to be incurred against the 131 staff appointments and Rs 3.06 lakh per month against the ad-hoc Assistant Professor posts would be met from the State Disaster Response Fund. The 131 staff positions would include Research Scientists (Non-Medical), Research Assistants, Lab Technicians, Data Entry Operators, Lab Attendants, and Sweepers.
-PTC News
