In what can be termed as absolutely inspirational, Minal Dakhave Bhosale, who was part of the team, which made India’s first COVID-19 testing kit, worked till an hour before her delivery to help her team develop the kit. Minal, who’s a professional molecular biologist, is the head of Research and Development at Pune-based Mylabs Discovery Solutions, which developed the kit.

Speaking to Nation Next, Minal said, Everybody in the team, which consisted of a lot of women, worked really hard to achieve what we did. Since we all share a great bond and enjoy each other’s trust, my work became relatively easier. During the last days of my delivery, when I started to work from home, my physical absence at the lab did not matter much as we have a team, which works as a family. I could guide my colleagues easily over the phone.

Speaking about the last work-related thing she did before she went in labour, Minal added, Before the ICMR submission of the batches, it is my duty to verify and check the product for quality. I remember that I worked till 6:30 pm on March 18 to verify and send what we created to NIV (National Institute of Virology), which was the last thing I successfully did before I got admitted to hospital.

Speaking about the approval of the kit from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Minal said, The development of kit would not have been possible without the dedication shown by my team. We managed to deliver a kit in record time of 6 weeks due to proper management, dedication, hard-work of lab team and stringent quality protocols. Without team support, I couldn’t have worked till last minute before my delivery.

 Sharing her views on COVID-19, Minal Dakhave Bhosale added, The reason for such tremendous spread of the virus is because it is a mutated respiratory virus. It is more important to take precautions instead of waiting for a cure. Everybody should follow the directives issued by the government to curb the spread of coronavirus. Although, it will take time to eradicate this disease, we can curb its spread by maintaining personal and environmental hygiene and practising social distancing.