4 ‘health workers’ set up camp and offer villagers Covid tests for Rs 150

Greater Noida: They said they were health officials setting up a “Covid testing camp” at Bhanvra village in Rabupura. When police turned up, they became NGO workers conducting “harmless” health checkups, without medical certification. After being questioned, the four — all in their 20s — were released by police but the video of the fake Covid testing camp is being shared on messaging platforms.
It started on Saturday, around 3pm, when the four men reached the village with what looked like a testing kit and told those they could see that they are setting up a camp, a local said. “They told people they were from the community health centre in Jewar,” Vinit Kumar, station house officer of Rabupura police station, added.
In the video, one of them can be seen unboxing what is labelled as a ‘quantum resonance magnetic analyzer’. The “analyzer” is a dubious diagnostic kit which claims to study the “magnetic field” of hair samples or simply a hand held around a probe to assess serious medical problems a person may have. There is little medical research to support the claim.
“They offered spot testing for Covid at Rs 150. To those who seemed reluctant, they said they can just pay Rs 20 for registration for now. They put a wired thermometer in the mouth of whoever agreed and said ‘this is your blood pressure, this is your bone density’,” said Aashu Kumar, who shot the video. “Someone looked it up on the internet and read that Covid tests need special kits. It can definitely not be done for Rs 150.” By then, about 15 people had already been “tested”. Aashu and a few friends of his called the police.
“When we got there, we verified their claim and the community health centre said they had not sent anyone,” said SHO Kumar. Police made them return the money to the people and took them in for questioning.
“Then, they said they were from an NGO and wanted to set up a full body checkup camp in the village after seeking permission from the health department,” Kumar added.
For now, no FIR has been filed. “We are conducting an investigation,” the SHO said.
Man collects samples by the road, booked
During their rounds on Monday, health officials in Noida found a man taking nasopharyngeal samples of people for Covid tests outside NMC Hospital in Sector 30. His collection kit was on his scooter, by the road. “He claimed he worked for a private lab in Delhi. But he was flouting all rules of sample collection and biomedical waste management rules. A complaint has been lodged at Sector 20 police station,” a health official said.
(With inputs from
Snehil Sinha)