ghaziabad the rtpcr lab being developed in the city will be operational by this week officials said on wednesday being constructed at a cost of around rs 76 lakhs the facility would be able to screen 96 samples at a time and the results would be available within three hours once the facility opens the health department has plans to screen 300 samples a daythe rtpcr laboratory is ready and will be inaugurated by this week said ajay shankar pandey the district magistrate we had made all preparations and had planned to inaugurate it on thursday but the finishing touches are left so we have postponed it by a few days the laboratory is near the womens hospital according to officials a ninemember team will look after the facility for now two microbiologists five technicians one data operator and a doctor have been appointed for the laboratory pandey saidit will become fully operational by end of this month we can screen 96 samples at a time and the results would be available in three hours we have plans to screen 300 samples a day said pandeylast month state principal secretary health amit mohan prasad had instructed officials to start an rtpcr laboratory in the district to speed up testing without an rtpcr laboratory the results of tests were getting delayed by at least three days said pandey