Goan team reaches Pune for COVID-19 training

A team of medicos from the Goa State Health Department arrived here for a three-day training to set help up a COVID-19 test facility in that state, officials said here.

In view of the ongoing lockdown in the country, the medicos team was airlifted by an Indian Navy Dornier aircraft from the INS Hansa in Goa.

Led by Savio Rodrigues, Head of Department, Microbiology, Goa Medical College, it will be trained by the Maharashtra health authorities to set up a testing facility in that state.

A request was made to the Indian Navy for providing air transport to the medical team which was also carrying samples of COVID-19 suspects for testing here.

The team is expected to return to Goa on Friday (March 27) after completing the training, said a defence spokesperson.

Maharashtra's Mumbai and Pune belt have the maximum number -- 116 so far -- of the COVID-19 cases and four deaths have happened in the state.

The medicos at the Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai and Naidu Hospital in Pune are considered leading experts in treating viral diseases like coronavirus. IANS