More than 10 lakh people screened at fever clinics, but only 135 positive

BENGALURU: Only 135 of the over 10.6 lakh people screened at 528 government-run fever clinics across Karnataka have tested positive for Covid-19, official data up to June 25 shows.
However, of those screened at the clinics, set up in April as a first line of offence in the fight against the pandemic, throat swab samples for Covid-19 tests, were collected only from 1,09,710 as only they fit Indian Council for Medical Research’s (ICMR) testing protocol norms.The clinics were aimed at screening people with fever and to triage those with symptoms.
Health and family welfare department officials say the process of screening all those who showed up was foolproof, but doctors on ground said most patients who were asked to come back for follow-up checks did not return and many had provided fake telephone numbers making it difficult to track them. Fear of hospitalisation, stigma and likely quarantine stints for family members are some reasons why patients did not return, they said.
For example, a 48-year-old man was screened at the fever clinic of a private hospital on Cunningham Road. The man complained of fever for a week and said it subsided with paracetamol, but he had lost his sense of smell.
“He was a potential Covid-19 case,” said a doctor at the clinic. “We asked him to get a test done at Bowring and Lady Curzon hospital. The phone number he gave at the fever clinic was different from the one he supplied at the billing desk, but we still tracked him down and spoke to him after multiple calls, but he insisted he was fine and saw no need for a test.”
A BBMP doctor working at a fever clinic confirmed the trend. “We ask those with very mild fever to watch for three days,” he said. “If it persists and they develop cough and body ache, we send them to get tested. A majority of those who get screened do not follow up. Many have given false numbers and hence tracking them is not possible.”
Dr Ambanna Gowda, a city-based internal medicine specialist, claimed the fever clinic data can’t be taken at face value. “The data has its limitations, as most patients who turn up at these clinics are not tested,” he said. “Fear of quarantine, hospitalisation and the sight of ambulances coming up to pick a positive patients are preventing many from taking the test.
Dr Prabhudev Gowda, state nodal officer, National Urban Health Mission, who looks after fever clinics, admitted there were issues, but said, “People not following up could be just 5-10 % of the cases. Whoever walks in to a clinic is tested if they fit testing protocol norms. Now all influenza like illness and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cares will be tested. Now, testing has been made possible at fever clinics itself.”
The government has now fixed Rs 350 as charges to collect throat swab samples in private hospitals and samples will be tested in government labs. Dr Gowda said data from fever clinics run by private hospitals has not yet been collated.