Overburdened Mumbai labs fail to keep up with increasing demand of conducting tests

Mumbai, which has so far conducted 10,000 tests, is witnessing a delay of two to three days for swab samples to get examined. Each day about 1,000 samples are tested. (Express photo: Pavan Khengre)

As cases of COVID-19 surge in Mumbai, overstretched government and private laboratories are struggling to keep up with the increasing demands of conducting timely tests on persons showing symptoms.

Mumbai, which has so far conducted 10,000 tests, is witnessing a delay of two to three days for swab samples to get examined. Each day about 1,000 samples are tested. Currently, government labs in JJ hospital, KEM hospital, Kasturba hospital and Haffkine hospital are conducting 50 per cent of the daily tests. The remaining are being done by private labs – 12 set up across the state, of which seven are in Mumbai.

Shoeb Shaikh, who visited the Tablighi Jamaat event for a day in Delhi last month, got admitted at Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Trauma hospital’s quarantine ward on April 2 after he came to know that several attendees were testing positive for the virus.

He approached the local police and was referred to the Jogeshwari hospital. His samples were sent to JJ hospital on April 2, where a huge backlog of samples remain. His test result is yet to come. “I am scared, what if other people infected in the ward pass on the infection to me? The hospital gives food and everything, and I follow all precautions. But still this is a high-risk zone,” he said over the phone.

Four persons in his ward have tested positive in the last four days and were shifted to an isolation facility. Three others tested negative and were discharged.

After a 52-year-old waiter died in Kasturba hospital, it took two days for the BMC to collect swabs of his close contacts. The waiter worked in Ramnath Ashram in Colaba. On April 2, he felt feverish and breathless and was rushed to St George hospital, which gave him basic medication but refused to admit him. He was then taken to Kasturba hospital, where he died on April 3. The waiter also suffered from diabetes and hypertension. “I last spoke with my father on April 3. Next day, I got a call that he had died,” his son, who lives in Murud, said.

On April 5, the samples of the waiter’s colleague and employer were taken for testing. They were asked to remain under home quarantine.

In Khar East, Sunil Sawant’s friend tested positive last week. “We waited for three days for BMC to take our samples. I met him before he was tested and was afraid of infecting others,” Sawant said, adding that civic officials are delaying test of low-risk contacts.

A 77-year-old man, who died in Kasturba hospital on April 4, also faced a delay in testing. He was admitted on March 29, but his swab results came positive only on April 2.

Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said the city is testing 890 people per million population while Delhi is testing 96 people per million population. “We are trying to expedite and Kasturba hospital is working in three shifts. JJ and other hospitals are working in one shift. The chief secretary has ordered them to work in three shifts,” he added.

Pardeshi said that private labs have been asked to conduct 25 tests each for free every day. The BMC also plans to launch rapid test – which takes half an hour to produce a result and is cheaper – to test its staff, health workers and BEST workers initially.

Another problem is that JJ hospital and Kasturba hospital are getting several samples for tests from nearby districts like Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Palghar and Thane. Last week, JJ hospital refused to take more samples sending officials on a scramble to transfer some to Haffkine institute.

Anup Kumar Yadav, Director, National Health Mission, said a strategy to equally divide samples between all labs has been undertaken to distribute load and get results quickly.

An official from JJ hospital said proper training was not provided to the staff and there was no preparation to initiate testing in their lab. On Sunday, several sample results came inconclusive. JJ Hospital had to procure fresh kits from National Institute of Virology, Pune and retest. “There is lack of coordination and planning, hence these issues are coming up,” the official said. The hospital lab is also working on a single shift and not able to test as much as Kasturba or KEM Hospitals.