Locally-made Covid test kit gets approval

The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) approved a locally developed RT-PCR testing kit for identifying Covid-19 patients, which will cost only Tk 250 each. This is the first local kit to get approval here, more than two years after the pandemic hit Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Council of Science and Industrial Research (BCSIR) developed the kit in collaboration with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Dhaka University, and secured DGDA approval in July this year, the BCSIR said at a press brief on Sunday.

BCSIR officials said their kit is more effective than imported kits, as it can detect even the smallest number of viruses.

At the brief, BCSIR Chairman Prof Dr Aftab Ali Sheikh said, “Along with receiving the ethical clearance for this kit from the Bangladesh Medical Research Council, we also secured approval from the DGDA.

“It will be possible to confirm the initial presence of Covid-19 in only four to five hours. With this development, people of the country can now get tested for Covid at lower cost.”

The detection kits currently used by the health officials cost over Tk 1,000 per kit, sources told The Business Post.

BCSIR said the whole process for each Covid-19 test costs approximately Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000. Over 13 million samples have been tested in Bangladesh so far. All of the kits used in such testing were imported.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Bangladesh has tested some 14.6 million samples till date.

BCSIR officials said they are now waiting to be contacted by any pharmaceutical company or health authorities so that the locally developed kits can be used across the country.