As Bangladesh fights back the COVID-19 epidemic, a Bangladeshi biotech company OMC Healthcare (Pvt.) Ltd. develops COVID-19 RT-PCR testing kit to support the health sector in Bangladesh during this challenging time. OMC Healthcare developed the RT-PCR Test Kit following complete guideline of WHO and the only kit to receive production and commercial approval from Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), Bangladesh on 3rd January 2021. This is the first time a Bangladeshi company develops corona virus testing kit and gets approval from DGDA.
Developed as per guideline of WHO and US CDC, this RT-PCR Test Kit can successfully detect the mutated form of COVID-19. As such, this kit can be one of Bangladesh’s principal weapons in effective diagnosis and clinical management of COVID-19.
There is no alternative of coronavirus testing to effectively identify COVID -19 infected patients and in Bangladesh, it is a major concern to have adequate test kits at affordable price. It is obvious that imported kits are expensive for mass population screening for COVID-19 and 30- 40% of expense can be reduced if OMC Healthcare kits are used.
Moreover, it is a sheer challenging task to import Covid-19 Test kits as per demand from other countries during this pandemic. The scarcity of test kits will be eradicated if RT-PCR test kits are produced in Bangladesh, and can also be exported to other countries after meeting the country’s demand.
In this regard OMC HealthCare CEO, Mazbahul Kabir said, “Primarily we have the capacity of producing 40 – 50 thousand Covid-19 RT-PCR test kit every day, and if needed we can expand the capacity as per requirement. To ensure the highest quality of our test kit, we have used automatic production line.”
“The approval of this test kit has been rapidly progressed by the utmost cooperation of DGDA and IEDCR.” He added more.
It is hoped that this RT-PCR test kit, developed by OMC Healthcare, will play a vital role in the country's healthcare response to the Covid-19 pandemic and will further strengthen Bangladesh's position in the world arena.
-rmc/