Data mismatch as many give dubious details for virus test

Ranchi: A 38-year-old woman in Ranchi got herself tested twice for Covid-19 at Rims and at a private lab in a span of three days by providing two different contact numbers. Similarly, a 54-year-old man gave two different addresses — one in Pandra and another in Kadru — to get himself tested twice in a span of two days. In another instance, a 41-year-old security personnel gave his son’s mobile number to get himself tested again.
When TOI got in touch with the one of the patients, he on condition of anonymity said he’s undergoing the test twice as he is wary of the report given by the lab and he wanted to get a confirmation that he is Covid negative from two different facilities.
In their quest for confirmation, such people are adding to the woes of an overburdened district administration and the hospitals for now they have to screen the reports to rule out any anomalies. Sources in Rims said that on a daily basis, they detect around three to four cases where the persons have got themselves tested twice in a span of few days. Such anomalies are often eliminated only after the details are uploaded on the Government of India website.
In addition, there are those who belong to other states/districts but they are also getting themselves tested in Ranchi, leading to a mismatch in data. According to the state unit of National Health mission, as of Friday morning, Ranchi had 6,912 cases but the total number of Covid-19 reports received by the district health authorities is over 7,400. “I have received 500 Covid reports which were either of repeat tests done by people at various locations or of those belonging to other districts but they got themselves tested in Ranchi. This adding to the caseload of the state capital,” said Ashish Ranjan, an analyst at the civil surgeon’s office.
Ranjan added that soon after they started detecting such anomalies, they started screening the reports and tried filtering the data. “We started filtering the reports on the basis of name, age and mobile number of the patients and once we detected that a person got himself/herself tested twice or thrice and has a data mismatch, we got it confirmed by calling them from our control room and eliminated such cases from the database,” added Ranjan.
Ranchi civil surgeon Dr V B Prasad on Friday appealed to the people to not provide different data while getting themselves tested. “I would urge everyone to provide the correct details while getting themselves tested at any facility, be it state-run or private lab. We have come across cases where the patients have got themselves tested at a private lab and after two days, they are getting themselves tested at a state-run facility by providing different mobile numbers and addresses which leads to mistake in data reporting.”