Testing asymptomatic people not advisable: Gujarat government

AHMEDABAD: The state government has maintained that it will not permit Covid-19 testing of asymptomatic individuals merely to eliminate doubts because this practice may lead to either a “false sense of security among people” or result in “unnecessary treatment burden”.

The HC had asked why all citizens are not entitled to health diagnosis. The state government submitted its reply and expressed its reservations on Covid testing of asymptomatic persons. It reiterated its apprehension that testing asymptomatic persons would create confusion, but this time around, the government has based its argument on the accuracy of RT-PCR test.
In a note supplied to the court by the government pleader, it said, “There is no question of allowing all asymptomatic persons to go for Covid testing, who wish to get the it done voluntarily. This is because of two reasons. Firstly, the guidelines do not provide for the testing of asymptomatic persons, and secondly, the RT-PCR test’s specificity is around 70%, leading to there being chances of false positives and negatives. This may, in turn, lead to the creation of a false sense of security as well as unnecessary treatment burden.”
Earlier, the government told the HC that conducting Covid-19 tests on asymptomatic patients would create a “fear psychosis among people” as many more cases would be confirmed than the numbers under the present testing policy formed on the May 18 guidelines of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
The state government reiterated its stand and cited a report by a panel of three doctors – Dr Tejas Patel, Dr Pankaj Shah and Dr Atul Patel – whose opinion in this regard concurred with the ICMR guidelines that asymptomatic individuals should not be tested.
However, the medical fraternity and a couple of other litigants were insisting on the need to increase testing. The Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA) even cited a Supreme Court order to this effect. To this, the state government said that the SC order should be interpreted in proper manner because the apex court was talking about testing on patients and not on asymptomatic individuals when it insisted on more testing. Moreover, the SC has not disapproved the ICMR guidelines, on which Gujarat has based its testing policy.
The government has said that it has been conducting enough tests, 7,000 to 8,000 at present, and there are no patients who are denied testing.