Delay in test results is putting ‘late’ in names
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Patients are getting their corona exam report after 6-7 days in most cases; apart from the anxiety...
AtParappana Agrahara , Central Prisons , swabs were collected from 20 under-trials and six jail officials on June 9. But they received their reports on July 1. Delay: 22 days Jayram, a daily wage labourer waited for 5 days, after his wife had passed away, for her Covid result . On the sixth day, he was told that she was Covid positive (BM’s Cover page story on July 2). Delay: 6 days
A 45-year-old hairdresser man, a resident of Shivanagar, gave his swabs at theESI hospital , Rajajinagar, on June 24. On June 27, he was shifted to KC General Hospital, with pneumonia-like symptoms, where he waited for an isolation bed for many hours. His test results came on July 1, and he had tested positive. But he passed away on June 30 night. Delay: 7 days
Doctors says each lab has a testing capacity of 1000 samples a day but they are testing only 70 per cent of the full capacity.
In May, when the cases were in double digits, labs were testing 3000 to 4000 per day. In June when cases are close to 1000 per day, they’re still testing around 4000 to 5000. So people have to wait for a minimum of five to six days. Some labs were shut down after their staff turned Covid positive and the labs had to be sanitised.
Samples from districts like Kalaburgi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Ballari and Bidar are being sent to Bengaluru.
On Thursday, while inaugurating a lab, Dr K Sudhakar said that the state would scale up testing to 25,000. He added that the testing in the state is hovering between 7,000 to 15,000 per day. But the reality seems otherwise.
State task force member and director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular ScienceDr CN Manjunath said the target is to test around 5,000 to 6,000 samples per day. “On an average, each lab would require eight to 10 people including data entry personnel, microbiologists, lab technicians.
However, testing is being ramped up. Until April 10, during the lockdown, there were only eight labs in the state. Now we have 80 labs and 15 more will be added in less than a month’s time,” he added.
Rachana (name changed), and her daughters, gave their samples after her husband tested positive. She had to wait for six days for the test results. “The anxiety while waiting for the test results is killing. Health officials say that they will only inform us if the result is positive. When a result is delayed, should we keep guessing the status of our result?” she asked.
There are nine government and 11 private labs testing for Covid in Bengaluru. Government Labs are Bangalore Medical College, National Institute of Virology (NIV), NIMHANS, Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological sciences, Bowring Hospital, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Jayadeva Hospital and Command Hospital.
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A 45-year-old hairdresser man, a resident of Shivanagar, gave his swabs at the
The mounting cases, delay in test results, patients dying while waiting to be allotted beds is all pointing to one thing – that Karnataka has failed to build capacity for testing or beds during the lockdown. Three months into a pandemic and after trotting out tall promises, the state is now scrambling to test samples, provide beds and control it’s death rate.
The anxiety while waiting for the test results is killing. Health officials say that they will only inform us if the result is positive. When a result is delayed, should we keep guessing the status of our result?
Doctors says each lab has a testing capacity of 1000 samples a day but they are testing only 70 per cent of the full capacity.
In May, when the cases were in double digits, labs were testing 3000 to 4000 per day. In June when cases are close to 1000 per day, they’re still testing around 4000 to 5000. So people have to wait for a minimum of five to six days. Some labs were shut down after their staff turned Covid positive and the labs had to be sanitised.
Samples from districts like Kalaburgi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Ballari and Bidar are being sent to Bengaluru.
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On Thursday, while inaugurating a lab, Dr K Sudhakar said that the state would scale up testing to 25,000. He added that the testing in the state is hovering between 7,000 to 15,000 per day. But the reality seems otherwise.
State task force member and director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Science
However, testing is being ramped up. Until April 10, during the lockdown, there were only eight labs in the state. Now we have 80 labs and 15 more will be added in less than a month’s time,” he added.
Rachana (name changed), and her daughters, gave their samples after her husband tested positive. She had to wait for six days for the test results. “The anxiety while waiting for the test results is killing. Health officials say that they will only inform us if the result is positive. When a result is delayed, should we keep guessing the status of our result?” she asked.
There are nine government and 11 private labs testing for Covid in Bengaluru. Government Labs are Bangalore Medical College, National Institute of Virology (NIV), NIMHANS, Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological sciences, Bowring Hospital, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Jayadeva Hospital and Command Hospital.
