NIMS Can Now Conduct 3,000 Covid-19 Tests Per Day

Roche Diagnostics India today announced the launch of its first Cobas 8800 machine for south India at Telangana's first Molecular Lab and Centre of Excellence located in the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad.

The lab was inaugurated by Etala Rajender, Minister for Health, in the presence of Dr Kandakatla Manohar, Director of NIMS.

Roche's Cobas 8800 machines run the globally used RT-PCR test to detect coronavirus infections.

This high throughput instrument offers the fastest results, providing the first 96 results in about 3.5 hours, and 96 samples thereafter every 30 minutes, totaling upto 960 results in 8 hours.

SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests on the instrument detect the genetic signature (RNA) of the virus in a simple test performed by a healthcare provider using nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples.

Rajender said, "With the Cobas 8800 machine, NIMS' Covid-19 testing capacity will go up to around 3,000 samples per day. Additionally this lab will support in testing for other infections such as HIV and Hepatitis, giving us a sustainable healthcare infrastructure for the future."

Dr. Shravan Subramanyam, Managing Director for India and Neighbouring Markets, Roche Diagnostics India, said, "High-volume and high-quality diagnostic tests are important to provide appropriate clinical support in time and implement social measures that can avoid the further spread of the virus. This is also the time to enhance our infrastructure to support the management of other infectious diseases. The Cobas 8800 addresses almost all of the challenges faced by the labs in pandemic times and beyond. Roche Diagnostics India is committed to providing technologies to help healthcare providers and patients in India during and after the Covid-19 times."