SURKHET: A PCR machine used for coronavirus testing in Surkhet, the capital of Karnali Province, has stopped functioning for the past two days.

The province government has made a testing guideline that those who have been in quarantine for 14 days will be sent back home only after undergoing a PCR test.

On one hand, the PCR machine donated by businessman Binod Chaudhary has stopped functioning to cause piling of over 1,500 samples for tests.

On the other hand, the hospital administration has been forced to declare indefinite closure of OPD services at the Province Hospital, Surkhet, Karnali Science Academy, Jumla due to panic among doctors, health workers and laboratory technicians.

After the so-called state-of-the-art machine in Surkhet broke down, the coronavirus test in Karnali province has become dependent on the Karnali Institute of Health Sciences in Jumla.