Published on 07:48 PM, March 24, 2020

MJF employees to donate one day’s salary for making coronavirus kits

Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), a rights organisation, today said its employees will donate one day's salary to Gonoshasthaya Kendra in an effort to help the health centre produce coronavirus-detection kits.

"We will donate salary worth around Tk 5 lakh to the health centre soon," MJF coordinator Shahana Huda Ranjana told The Daily Star.

She said the decision was taken to tackle the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Earlier, Founder and trustee of Gonoshasthaya Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury told The Daily Star that they planned to produce five lakh or more such kits in a month, which would require Tk 20 crore.

Ranjana said that her organisation would also distribute necessary materials, including hand sanitisers, in more than 215 upazillas under the supervision of its 141 partners.

A team of Gonoshasthaya-RNA Biotech Limited, a sister concern of Gonoshasthaya Kendra, said they have developed an affordable kit that can detect the novel coronavirus infection in 15 minutes and received government approval to import raw materials to make it.

The raw materials are scheduled to arrive from the UK tomorrow.