The administration at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, to prioritize research in the field of healthcare in support of the COVID 19 pandemic relief operation. Faculty exchanges, joint research projects, internships and hands-on learning for students will be conducted by the two universities, and solutions to difficulties in the public health sector will be developed.

Earlier SPPU had signed a similar MoU with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences as a part of the same effort. Meanwhile the RT-PCR testing for about 100 samples took place at the newly established molecular diagnostics testing laboratory on the SPPU campus. About 10 professors from the university had been engaged in RT-PCR testing over a period of four months at IISER to get hands-on training for the same.

The same team of professors will now lead the RT PCR test facility at the SPPU campus which will initially test about 100 samples per day which are sent from hospitals. Currently, no spot testing for COVID 19 will take place on the SPPU campus.