6 govt-approved RT-PCR labs at HSIA sit idle

The health ministry has approved six private RT-PCR laboratories at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to test the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-bound passengers for Covid-19, but only a mobile lab is functioning.

The mobile lab is part of a lab of DMFR Molecular Lab and Diagnostics, which is one of the six.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) sources say an Emirates flight with 70 passengers was sheduled to leave Dhaka at 1:30am today. The mobile lab collected their samples.

Asked why the other laboratories are not functioning yet, Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said she does not know about it and it is a matter of the CAAB.

A CAAB official said the UAE-bound flights operating now are special flights, and they are running with Bangladesh foreign ministry’s permission.

“That is why Emirates has determined who will test these passengers. The authorities concerned are in talks with the UAE government about resuming regular flights. Once these flights resume, the six labs will test passengers,” he said.

On Sunday, the six labs collected samples from 96 CAAB and government officials at the airport. The DGHS then compared the test results with those from its own lab and found that the results are the same.

According to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, the UAE has made it mandatory for passengers from Bangladesh to depart within six hours of taking an RT-PCR test at the airport.

Earlier, DGHS Additional Director General Dr Nasima Sultana told The Business Post that all six RT-PCR laboratories at Dhaka airport were ready to conduct pre-departure Covid-19 testing for the UAE-bound passengers.

CAAB officials said a DGHS monitoring cell and technical committee, led by Dr Sultana, inspected the technical aspects of the Covid-19 testing machines at the labs on Saturday.

The committee found everything to be in order at the laboratories after conducting a final trial, they added.

The six approved private laboratories are — Gulshan Clinic Limited, Stemz Health Care (BD) Limited Dhaka, CSBF Health Centre, AMZ Hospital Limited, Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Hospital (AKMMCH), and DMFR Molecular Lab and Diagnostics.

Zainul Haque Sikder Women’s Medical College Hospital was later excluded from the list as it did not send its standard operating procedure to the UAE authorities.

The expatriates’ welfare ministry has fixed the test fees. The laboratories would enable passengers to undergo Covid-19 tests at the booths by paying a minimum of Tk 1,700 to a maximum of Tk 2,300.