Ahmedabad Covid crisis: Cases spike, lab turnaround time rises

AHMEDABAD: Gota resident Nisha Mehra (name changed), along with her daughter (a toddler) and husband were running fevers over 100 degrees fahrenheit.
When they approached private labs in the city for testing, not only were they refused home sample collection, they were told to go give their sample for testing and the reports would be made available after 48-72 hours.

At a time when cases of Covid-19 are rising in Ahmedabad, there is a significant delay in the turnaround time not just for testing but also for Covid RTPCR reports.
TOI called and checked at various registered laboratories in Ahmedabad for Covid-19 testing and were told that reports would take a minimum of 36 hours.
“Our staff is over stretched and there are many reports to be generated. It is not possible to send people all the way for home sample collection as it becomes risky. We do home collection only in cases of emergencies, where the patient is elderly,” said a worker with a private lab.
Jignesh Parmar (name changed), a Maninagar resident, faced a similar delay.
“My wife and I were running high fevers two days ago. She’s diabetic and we went to give our sample at a private lab but were told the reports will be given after 48 hours. We gave the sample anyway but later went to the drive through facility at GMDC ground and got tested too.”
Doctors say this is not just causing delays in diagnosis but is also leaving patients in a critical stage and without proper treatment.