“The BSMMU authorities sought 200 samples of our kits. Our two representatives summitted the samples to the authorities concerned of the hospital around 11:30am,” Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury told UNB.

He said though they were asked to deposit a fee of Tk 4,35,000 for conducting the performance study, the BSMMU authorities did not receive the money. “We’re ready to deposit the money if they want to take it.”

Zafrullah hoped that the BSMMU authorities will complete the kit's effectiveness test soon and submit report on it to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) within the next seven days.

Earlier on April 30, the DGDA gave Gonoshasthaya the permission to get its Covid-19 rapid testing kits tested.

The DGDA informed Gonoshasthaya that the performance study of the kits could be done either at the BSMMU or IEDCR.

On May 2, the BSMMU authorities formed a six-member committee to conduct the performance study of the testing kits as the organisation approached the country’s premier medical university.

On April 25, Gonoshasthaya Kendra authorities handed over their testing kits to the BSMMU and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the final approval.

Also read: BSMMU forms committee to test Gonoshasthaya kits

Gonoshasthaya Kendra has developed the “easy, effective and cheap” method to test coronavirus or Covid-19.

Gonoshasthaya-RNA Biotech Limited, a sister concern of Gonoshasthaya, with the help of experts from Singapore developed the method named ‘Gonoshasthaya Rapid Dot Blot.’

On March 17, Gonoshasthaya Kendra declared that they had developed a testing kit that can examine samples to detect Covid-19 within 15 minutes.