Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Large number of tuberculosis patients will have to face trouble as the machines of Intermediate Reference Laboratory of Bio Safety Level-III at MRTB Hospital shut down due to theft of copper wires.
Most of the machines including those used for testing samples of TB patients from across the state ran out of order due to the damage made by the thieves.
According to Dr Ashutosh Shrivastava of MRTB Hospital, the stolen copper wires were the integral part of the machine and the thieves scaled up on the terrace to steal it.
“The incident took place during holidays on Saturday and Sunday. Accused also broke the grill which covered the machine. The cost of stolen copper wire is about Rs 30,000 but its importance was more than the cost. The BSL-III level laboratory is the only lab in the state and samples of TB patients come here for testing from all districts,” Dr Shrivastava said.
He added that samples of about 300 patients that are pending for final report will be put on hold and no new samples would be taken which may delay the treatment of TB patients.
The laboratory had conducted over 17,000 tests of TB samples in 2020 and over 25,000 in 2019.
“We have called the technical team to check the machines and to audit the damage. It will take at least a week to start the machines again.
