Gujarat: Test applications pile up as rules change

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat is third in India in terms of positive cases and second in terms of Covid-19 mortalities. However, in terms of tests per million population, the state is nowhere near top five in India. Health experts pointed out that a stringent cap on the tests at private labs by the state government could cause more problem than becoming part of the solution.
By end of April, the state had attained capacity of daily 3,000 tests with majority of the government colleges and four private labs engaged in the testing. As on Tuesday, Gujarat has 37 labs including 21 government-run and 16 privately-owned that can carry out tests. Still, rough estimates of pending applications are northwards of 15,000 according to experts.
“The state has frequently changed the rules for testing – earlier everyone could test, then those who did not have any symptoms were excluded from the ambit citing ICMR guidelines, then there was diktat of government permission for testing, then there were categories which were allowed to take test, then the order was amended with appointment of new permission authorities,” said a city-based hospital administrator who did not wish to be named, adding that so far six-odd notifications have been issued that amended the provisions time to time.
When TOI approached Dr Pina Soni, medical superintendent of Sola Civil Hospital, issuing authority for Ahmedabad, she said that they receive 250-odd applications daily. “You can check with Dr Prakash Vaghela (additional director, health department) for the number of approvals. We follow the guidelines and provide approvals to the categories decided by the state government,” she said.
Sources said the skeletal staff and infrastructure with the office that has to go through all the applications, find out the reason/need for test and then issue approval. “If the patient is not indoors, there is no approval; if the person has no symptoms, there is no approval; if the person is not an expectant mother or the one undergoing surgery, chances of approvals are slim,” said an official close to the development.
City-based associations including AMA and Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (AHNA) have written multiple times to authorities such as Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare), to look into the matter. In a letter dated May 23, AHNA had even wrote that the state is going in opposite direction than the world where the norm is to carry out maximum tests to find the patients quickly and isolate them.