North-East India Comes up With First Mobile Kiosk to Collect COVID-19 Sample, Prevents Wastage of PPE

In a major step to tame the coronavirus, a mobile COVID-19 sample collection kiosk has been designed under the Agartala Smart City project and if successful, more such kiosks would be developed, top officials said on Wednesday. Also Read - Happy Birthday Archie! Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Prince William, Duchess Kate Wish One-Year-Old Amid Lockdown

The newly designed mobile kiosk, first in the eastern and north east India, was handed over to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of West Tripura district on Tuesday and it already started collection of samples of the people. Also Read - Tanishaa Mukerji is Tired of Watching Cooking Videos of Bollywood Celebs, Says 'Not Interested'

“The kiosk ensures protection to the sample collecting health worker and prevents wastage of personal protection equipment (PPE). This initiative is a major step by Agartala Smart City project in the fight against Covid-19,” Tripura government’s Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar Rakesh told IANS. Also Read - Rs 5,000 to Barbers, Washermen: Karnataka Readies Rs 1,600 Crore Package, After Cancelling Migration

He said that if the mobile sample collection kiosk achieves the desired goal and if we get a good feedback from the ground level health workers, we would replicate this more and deploy them in other districts and subdivisions. “There is no need for patients to come to the hospital for giving sample. The mobile kiosk can go to the doorstep of the patient or any locality to collect the samples as and when the health authority decides,” said Rakesh, who also looks after the Health and Family Welfare Department.

Agartala Smart City Limited (ASCL) Chairman Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao said the kiosk was built on an old three-wheeler vehicle at a cost of Rs 85,000 and it can navigate through narrow lanes and by-lanes of the city to facilitate collection of samples from the community itself.

“The kiosk also facilitates mass testing of a larger number of people in a shorter time frame. This initiative was taken by the Municipal Commissioner of Agartala Municipal Corporation Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ASCL,” Dinkarrao told IANS.

(Source: IANS)