Monkeypox: Odisha Writes To Centre For Testing Facility

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has written to the Centre to set up a monkeypox testing facility in the state, Health & Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das said on Saturday on the state’s preparedness to deal with the disease.

Odisha has not reported any case yet.

“The Centre has notified 15 places in the country for monkeypox testing. In Odisha, it can be done at ICMR (RMRC) but for that, we need to get permission from the Centre. If kits are provided, monkeypox samples can be tested in Bhubaneswar. We have already written to the Centre in this regard,” Das said after a high-level meeting on monkeypox.

He said that by August 10 training will be imparted to a child specialist, a skin specialist, a medicine specialist and a specialist from ICTC from each district. They will be trained on symptoms and other aspects of monkeypox following which nodal officers will be appointed in each district, he added.

A committee on monkeypox led by Dr Jayant Das has already been constituted at SCB Medical College & Hospital.