HYDERABAD: Hundreds of people are being turned away from
Covid-19 testing centres across the state as staff crunch and additional responsibility of vaccinating thousands of people is taking its toll.
At a time when novel coronavirus patients are all struggling to get beds in private hospitals, many centres in the city are urging people to turn up the next day for tests.
“I went to the nearby government centre at around 1 pm. But the staff said the tests are done only till 12.30 pm,” said Ameerpet resident K Radha Raj. “Earlier the testing centres used to run from 9 am to 2 pm, but now tests are being done only till 12.30 pm. Anyone who is going beyond these timings are given slots for next day. I am so worried because of the delay now,” she said.
Health officials admitted there was a staff crunch to handle the rush along with the vaccination and immunisation drive for children.
The city has 89 urban primary health centres, with nine of them working round the clock. Each centre has only one medical officer and the vaccination process requires two nurses and supporting staff.
So, the ANM and ASHA workers are handling the Covid- 19 tests, but still the required numbers of carrying out 1,00,000 daily tests are not being met.
Telangana is carrying out 50,000 tests on an average now and sources said ever since Telangana entered the second wave, the number of people coming for vaccines has also increased, making the task to test more people, difficult.
“Before the vaccination drive picked up at each centre, there would be queues for 100 daily tests and staff are able to do 60 tests daily. In a few centres, local staff are seeking additional staff from government officials to manage the situation,” a top source said.
Another reason for the state to fall behind the target of one lakh tests daily has been blamed on lack of infrastructure to conduct RT-PCR tests as prescribed by the Centre in the new guidelines.
According to the new guidelines, the state must conduct 70% of the samples with the RT-PCR method, but the state is heavily dependent on rapid antigen tests.
Centre had given guidelines to test 25 first contacts for each tested case with the RT-PCR method.
While the state is pondering how to increase contact tracing and testing, the rush also had an impact on the ongoing vaccination drive.
“I booked a slot for Sunday in a private hospital, and when I landed there this morning, I was told the vaccination drive was not happening on weekends. I even got a text message asking me to go and take the jab. Now I have taken another slot on April 6,” said Indranil Banerjee, a resident of Tarnaka.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Sunday called health minister Eatala Rajender and expressed concern over the growing number of Covid- 19 cases in the state. The Governor, who is currently in Puducherry, was apprised of various measures being taken for containment of the virus and treatment by the minister. She appealed to the people to maintain social distancing norms