Kathmandu, June 23
Around 28,000 RNA extraction kits (reagents) imported by the Nepal Army for the country’s Covid-19 response has been found to be incompatible with the viral transport mediums (VTMs) used in Nepali labs to test swab samples for coronavirus.
Accordingly, it is likely that the kits will not be used anytime soon. The government has spent Rs 65.2 million to purchase these kits.
An official in the Ministry of Health and Population confirms that the reagents belong to a ‘closed system’ whereas the VTMs used in Nepal are ‘open’ ones. “The kits require one-mililitre VTMs whereas we have been using three-mililitre VTMs,” he says. The kits being used in Nepal so far were compatible with all kinds of VTMs.
The incompatibility was discovered when the tests of around 100 samples at Bir Hospital did not work right just recently.
“While experimenting with the new kits, the swab samples which had already tested positive turned negative,” an official says, “If we still do it, it will be a chaos.”
