Ghaziabad: People stood in queues and waited three to four hours to get themselves tested at MMG hospital on Tuesday. Officials admitted that shortage of a crucial accessory in the testing kit had led to the delay.
Social distancing and other Covid protocols were thrown to the wind as people jostled in the queue and got impatient. The risk of contracting the infection was all the more because most people who stood in line had either developed symptoms or were in contact of a Covid patient recently.
Ramesh Chandra said that although an hour had passed, the line had barely moved. “We are waiting for hours under the sun, but there is hardly any progress. The officials here are also not giving us any satisfactory reply,” said Chandra, a resident from Vivekananda Colony.
Mohit Singh was worried about the lack of safety protocols in place. “Most of us have come here after developing symptoms. But the situation here is such that even if someone does not have the infection as yet, he or she will contract it standing in the queue,” he said.
Sudhir Rana, who was also in the line, alleged there was a deliberate attempt to delay the testing.
“I have come to know that an important accessory of the testing kit is not available. That is why they are delaying the process of collecting the samples,” he said.
An official of MMG hospital insisted there was no shortage of RT-PCR testing kits, but admitted they had run out of Viral Transport Media, which is used to preserve the swab samples. “Both RT-PCR and antigen kits are available. But it is the VTM that we are short on. So, we were not able to conduct the tests the way we had wanted to. It is also the rush of people that contributed to the delay,” he added. Sources there were less than 100 vials of VTM left with MMG hospital as on Tuesday evening.
Dr VB Jindal, a former IMA president, explained the importance of VTM. “It is a vital part of the testing kit. The sample is collected and preserved in a vial called VTM, which is then transported to laboratories. Even if you have sufficient testing kits, they are useless in the absence of VTMs,” he said. “The solution in the VTM helps preserve the virus for about 15 days.”