15-20% +ve patients untraceable due to wrong phone numbers, address

Nagpur: With steep rise in cases, the short-staffed Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is finding it difficult to reach every Covid patient and monitor them. One reason for this is also that 15-20% patients are reportedly giving wrong contact numbers and addresses. Also, the number of persons getting tested twice or more is also on the rise, queering data on total positive cases.
Anusuya Kale-Chhabrani from NGO Together We Can told TOI, “NMC has given us the responsibility of contacting positive persons, guide them in home isolation, and monitor their health. Contact numbers of 15-20% positive patients are either wrong or not reachable. Some data sheets have contact number of the doctor who collected swab samples. Some phone numbers belong to people residing in other districts and states, who have never come to the city.”
She added, “Even some of the addresses are wrong. The police department has assured help to trace patients whose numbers are wrong or not reachable. Two-member teams have been formed at all police stations, to whom we pass on the list. They can trace some, but many remain untraceable. Some just write the name of their area, without mentioning plot number, lane or nearby landmark.”
Kale-Chhabrani also said, “People may be giving wrong numbers and addresses to avoid social stigma. But it will put their health at risk, and also increase corona spread in the city if they are not following home isolation and other guidelines.”
“NMC is providing all facilities, from testing centres, health monitoring and hospital admission for symptomatic patients. People should cooperate and help the administration control the pandemic,” she said.
Earlier, when the cases were fewer, NMC used to quarantine and test only high-risk contacts. Private laboratories used to take reference of private doctors and copy of Aadhaar cards for testing. With rise in cases, NMC’s 34 testing centres and private laboratories are reportedly not taking any residential proof.
Kale-Chhabrani said, “Names of some patients are repeated in two days as they get tested twice. This inflates number of positive persons, and is a waste of valuable kits and resources.”
TOI had on August 19 highlighted some people got tested second time after 10 days or next day, and their names were counted twice.
TOI could get reports of a person from Khamla who was tested thrice in two days. “NMC has made it mandatory for shopkeepers to get tested. This person first got tested through Rapid Antigen at NMC health centre and came positive. The same day, he was tested through Rapid Antigen from a private laboratory and again came positive. He was asymptomatic, so he was unable to believe it. Therefore, he went to a private laboratory and got tested through RT-PCR and tested positive against,” said another shopkeeper.
Two persons from Zingabai Takli and Lalganj also got tested twice in two days, from laboratories run by NMC and a private agency.