Pakistan, through its institutions COMSTECH and International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), is planning to help Muslim countries develop diagnostic kits for COVID-19 as 17 OIC institutions have already expressed their interest in benefitting from the opportunities, according to an official statement.
This was stated by COMSTECH Coordinator General Prof. Dr. Iqbal Choudhary while addressing an online meeting with scientists and heads of the virology diagnostic laboratories of OIC institution network belonging to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Gambia, Sénégal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Egypt. The meeting was aimed at exploring avenues of intra-OIC collaboration for capacity building of the laboratories.
Prof. Iqbal Choudhary, who is also heading the ICCBS – University of Karachi, told the meeting,
COMSTECH offers two online training courses in collaboration with the ICCBS-University of Karachi and National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad this year for building capacities of scientists in testing and developing diagnostic kits for COVID-19.
COMSTECH has submitted a proposal to Islamic Development Bank to further enhance the testing capacities of OIC member states. This proposal aims to enhance the testing capacities of the targeted countries and developing RT Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) as well as antibodies-based detection kits for the SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. These kits can be used without sophisticated diagnostic infrastructure, he said.
All participants offered their full support to COMSTECH intra-OIC cooperation initiative for coping with the current pandemic.
The participants of the meeting underlined the importance of assessing the currently available facilities, resources and workforce, equipping the labs with minimum standards, supporting technology transfer, training technicians, ensuring the availability of skilled manpower, and initiating collaborative projects.
stupid idiots, why help them making the kits? Make the kits yourself and sell it to them to make a profit… When Pakistan reach out to these countries in time of need, they don’t give us interest free loans, then why help them for free? I don’t get it..