Govt allows only 6 pvt hosps in J’khand to conduct antigen tests

Ranchi: The state health department on Saturday issued an order, restricting the non-NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) and the non-NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) private hospitals from conducting the rapid antigen tests on Covid-19 patients.
The order states that as per the ICMR guidelines, only those private hospitals that are affiliated to NABH and NABL can conduct the rapid antigen tests.
Going by the aforementioned criteria, only six private hospitals — two in Jamshedpur, three in Ranchi and one in Seraikela-Kharsawan — are allowed to conduct the rapid antigen tests. The six hospitals include Tata Main Hospital and Tata Motors Hospital in Jamshedpur, Raj Hospital, Medanta Hospital and Santevita Hospital in Ranchi and Bramhananda Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Seraikela Kharsawan.
“These hospitals which have been allowed to conduct the rapid tests should follow the conditions laid down by the state health department and the ICMR in letter and in spirit. The swab samples should be collected through RT-PCR and all results must be updated on the CVV portal. The ICMR code for every test result has to be generated and information regarding the test results must be passed on to the civil surgeon of the district concerned and the state IDSP unit,” the order read.
The government direction has not gone down well with the private hospitals as many of them are yet to obtain the NABH certification.
Association of Healthcare Providers India (Jharkhand) president Jogesh Gambhir said the restriction would lead to delay in the treatment of patients and may lead to the further spread of coronavirus. “If private hospitals can treat the Covid-19 patients, why do they need to be affiliated to NABH to conduct the tests,” he added.
Gambhir pointed out that in other states, the government has procured the test kits and distributed it to the private hospitals for free to ensure that maximum number of tests are conducted. “In Jharkhand, for reasons best known to the authorities, they are restricting the tests even when the private hospitals are willing to do it after purchasing the kit on their own,” he said.
The association offered that in case the government is suspicious about the maintenance of data, a government representative can be stationed in the private hospitals to collect the data and update it on the ICMR portal on a regular basis.
The vice president (operations) at Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital here, Anil Kumar, said that in the wake of the pandemic their application for NABH certification is pending before the council. “Rapid antigen test would have helped us in the immediate management of patients because it gives results within half an hour,” he added.