Karnataka: Social activist seeks greater transparency in functioning of private Covid-19 labs

MANGALURU: Social activist Umar U H in a letter to deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh on Saturday said private Covid-19 testing laboratories in Dakshina Kannada district by ‘bungling’ in the manner in which they are collecting swabs and issuing test reports of people, are losing their credibility. The district disaster management authority that DC heads should examine this issue threadbare and take necessary corrective action, he said.
Lauding the DDMA for taking steps to permit private laboratories carry out Covid-19 test when the pressure on government laboratory at district Wenlock Hospital mounted for a reasonable cost of Rs 650, Umar said some of these laboratories are not following norms to collect swabs from people, especially international travellers. While their swab must be collected a day after arrival, the process is now being done on the second or third day, he said.
The preliminary throat swab reports of even asymptomatic international travellers are being recorded as ‘symptomatic international traveller,’ he said and there is delay in receiving the final test report. Passengers put up in institutional quarantine are made to wait for two to four days for the final report, extending their stay at the paid facility, he said, adding people whose initial report had come up negative have been told they are positive.
While there may be few lapses in the tests that are being carried out at the laboratory at district Wenlock Hospital, Umar said the lapses on part of the private laboratories – four of them in the private medical college hospitals - is inexcusable and the district administration needs to step in at the earliest. The social activist also furnished documents that ‘proved’ the mistakes that the private laboratories have committed to the district administration.