Govt suspends testing nod to pvt lab

Panaji: The state government has suspended the permission granted to SRL Diagnostic to collect swabs for Covid-19 tests. The decision was taken after three positive cases of industrial workers reported by it, proved negative when re-tested by the government at its own facility.

“We have officially decided to temporarily withhold permission granted to SRL Diagnostic. The decision was made today,” health secretary Nila Mohanan told reporters on Thursday.

Two months ago, SRL Diagnostic was certified as collection centre by the ICMR, while Goa government recently gave it permission to collect swabs of industrial workers.

SRL used to send the swabs to a laboratory in Mumbai.

The cases shown positive by SRL Diagnostic were added to the state’s tally, Mohanan said.

She said that the collection centre will not be given the task of collecting swabs in Goa.