The ministry of health and family welfare department has approved the COVID-19 testing lab at the Madurai Rajaji Medical College. This will be the eighth lab for Tamil Nadu.
“This is the eighth lab for Tamil Nadu which will support testing of more samples in that region,” state Health Minister Dr C. Vijayabaskar tweeted.
#Update: @MoHFW_INDIA approves the #COVID2019 testing lab at Madurai Rajaji Medical College. This is the 8th lab for Tamilnadu which will support testing of more samples in that region. @MoHFW_INDIA @ICMRDELHI @CMOTamilNadu #Vijayabaskar
— Dr C Vijayabaskar (@Vijayabaskarofl) March 25, 2020
The approval of the testing lab in Madurai, one of the major cities in Tamil Nadu, is promising as many in the temple town have travelled abroad recently. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has allowed 62 testing centres across the country, out of which seven centres in Tamil Nadu, including Kings Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research at Guindy in Chennai, Government Medical College in Theni, Tirunelveli and Thiruvarur, Department of Clinical Virology at Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, Department of Laboratory Services, at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, were given permission to conduct tests.
The approval from the Union ministry has come hours after the death of a 54-year-old COVID-19 patient from Madurai who had no travel history. He was a building contractor in the city and was a member of the local jamath. The patient, according to Vijayabaskar, did not respond to the treatment, given his comorbidities.
“Despite our best efforts, the #Covid19 positive patient at Madurai Rajaji Hospital passed away few minutes back,” Vijayabhaskar tweeted at 2 am on Wednesday.
The last rites of the patient were performed within hours after his death as per the COVID-19 dead body management guidelines released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare. He died at 1.30 am at the Madurai Rajaji hospital.
Sources in the police department told THE WEEK that his body was handed over to his relatives before the break of dawn, and he was buried as per the guidelines laid down by the central government. “We followed the procedure strictly. A local representative from the Jamath was with the police officials, as the man was a member of the Jamath. We had two of his relatives at the time of burial,” the source said.
The man, however, did not have any travel history but was in contact with two tourists from Thailand who are also in isolation in Erode. The Thai nationals had reportedly come to Erode to visit a local mosque. Sources say they are preachers. In Erode, an entire area called Kolampalayam has been cut off since three days, after the two Thai nationals tested positive for the coronavirus.
While there have been several unconfirmed reports linking the death of a Thai national in Coimbatore on March 17, the district authorities and health department officials made it clear that he tested negative for COVID-19 and died because of acute diabetes and foot ulcer. The deceased, identified as DonRosak Khamidoi, had reached India on March 6 with a few others from Thailand. He landed in Delhi and then travelled to Erode with a group of Thai nationals.
However, the Erode district authorities and the health minister have said that the Coimbatore patient and the two Thai nationals do not have any connection.
The two Thai nationals are reportedly members of the Tablig Jaamat, a non political Islamic outfit that operates across the world. Members from the outfit go on an outreach programme across the world to preach and practice religion.
Tablig Jaamat conducts a set of programs, including 3 days, 15 days, 1 month, 40 days, 90 days outreach programmes, where a group of 10-15 people travels and stays at different mosques, and practices religion with different sets of people.
