The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on Tuesday approved the Covid-19 rapid testing kit. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DRAP, Dr Asim Rauf confirmed that a foreign pharmaceutical company has registered the coronavirus rapid testing kit which will provide the result of a nasal swab sample within 20 minutes.
Dr Rauf said the testing kits manufactured in Germany will be imported by a foreign pharmaceutical company and the initial testing fees will be charged up to Rs2,000. Only trained experts will be able to use the rapid testing kits and the results will be matched with the health condition and clinical history of patients, he added.
The DRAP CEO said that rapid testing kits will not be used for donor screening and termed the registration of the kits as a major success for speedy diagnosis of the virus. He said that timely diagnosis of the virus will enable the medical experts to treat the infected patients in the country.
Earlier, Pakistan locally developed a modern device to diagnose coronavirus within a minute, confirmed CEO Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) Dr Asim Rauf on Saturday.
The invention is being regarded as a major breakthrough for Pakistan in its fight against the pandemic. The device has been approved by the DRAP.
According to details, the device is capable of diagnosing the deadly disease within a minute through the lungs. The device has been named Covid Rapid Artificial Intelligence Detection.
Dr Asim said that the device has been purely developed at the domestic level and has been approved under the DRAP Act 2012. He said that the device will be helpful for Pakistan in the war against Covid-19 as it can detect the infection within a minute.
The CEO DRAP said that the device that was developed by National Electronics Complex Pakistan, will be available in the market soon. Only a few countries are using Covid technology, Dr Rauf said and added that Pakistan will export the device to other countries to help them in fighting the pandemic.
