A group of teachers and students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) is working round the clock at their Genetics and Biotechnology Laboratory to conduct test for coronavirus (Covid-19).
The teachers and students of Genetics Engineering and Biotechnology department of the university have been working since May 20 last year after setting up the specialised laboratory there.
Six teachers along with their 12 MPhil and PhD students of the university are working voluntarily in this regard.
When the virus was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College opened a specialised laboratory to conduct test for coronavirus (Covid-19).
But it was not possible for the hospital to conduct the Covid-19 test for large number of people due to lack of manpower and other problems.
As a result, Covid-19 case samples from Sylhet and Sunamganj were conducted test at the specialised laboratory of the hospital and rest samples from Habiganj and Moulvibazar were sent to the capital Dhaka.
And it would take two weeks to get the test result from the capital Dhaka.
Considering the issue, SUST Vice Chancellor Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed took the initiative to open a specialised laboratory at Genetics Engineering and Biotechnology department.
Since then, they have been conducting the test for coronavirus (Covid-19) samples from Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj alongside Sylhet. Directorate General of Health Services is providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other protective equipment designed to help protect an individual from infection, to the university laboratory in order to conduct the test safely.
On the other hand, the SUST authority is spending test cost with its own fund.
Talking to Bangladesh Post on Sunday Md Shamsul Haque Prodhan, PhD, Professor and Head of the Department of Genetics Engineering and Biotechnology said they have setup the biosafety level-2 laboratory at a cost of taka one crore and 20 lakh but it needs to be upgraded to level-3 as per the directives of the World Health Organization (WHO).
And it has been setup with the university authority’s own fund.
“Since then, we have been conducting the test for coronavirus (Covid-19) without any break. Initially we 28 teachers including MPhil and PhD students were working voluntarily. And now six teachers along with their 12 MPhil and PhD students of the university are working in this regard,” he told this correspondent.
However, since January he 12 MPhil and PhD students are getting honorarium taka 20,000 while the teachers are still working voluntarily.
He said they collected 52,6,17 samples till Aril 14 and of them 8,319 were tested positive.
Talking to the university correspondents, the MPhil and PhD students said as on March 16 last year, the government closed all the educational institutions of the country to prevent the spread of coronavirus, all students left the campus.
But when the university authority opened the specialised laboratory, the students of Genetics Engineering and Biotechnology returned to campus and some MPhil and PhD students have started working voluntary round the clock.
They have been residing at the guest house of the university for one year.
Mosharraf Hossain, a postgraduate student, hailing from Narsingdi Sadar visited his home only twice since the laboratory opened.
He spent the rest of the time in the laboratory. "It's good to be in the service for the people," Musharraf said.
“I will continue to work until the situation is improved,” he said adding the samples usually come from the Civil Surgeon's Office between 11 am and 12 pm.
“After conducting the samples test, the results were sent to the Civil Surgeon Office between 7pm and 8pm. On an average 200 to 400 samples are sent from the Civil Surgeon Office every day. The samples test has not been stopped even during the occasion of Eid, Puja and New Year holidays,” he further said.
Nazmul Hasan, a PhD student and also one of the in charges of laboratory said they took the assignment as an opportunity to stand beside the people during this Covid-19 pandemic.
“We don’t think to sit idle at home as the pandemic continued to spread day by day over the whole nation and the number of affected people has been increasing. We remain detached from our family members since long as we think that we will have stand beside the people right now. And we are satisfied as we are doing work for the sake of the country’s people,” he said.