HYDERABAD: In yet another case of delayed test results and ensuing confusion, a 33-year-old IT professional from Kavadiguda received a message from the Arogya Setu app that he is COVID positive but failed to get a call from the Telangana health department confirming it. Instead, health officials told him that as he has not received a call, he is COVID negative.
The patient who did not want to reveal his identity stated that he had given his samples for testing on June 18, a week after his elderly father tested positive for COVID.
The entire family of five members went to the Amberpet Government School and gave the samples and have not received any status update since.
“We have been in mental agony as I am a cardiac patient, my mother is aged above 60 and I have two children below five years. The reason why these test results are important to us is because my father who first tested COVID positive has been paralysed for 11 years and but obviously one of us gave him the infection,” said the IT professional. Unfortunately, while waiting for their own test results, his father died of COVID at Gandhi Hospital.
On July 4, 15 days after submitting the sample, his Arogya Setu app stated he is COVID positive, as the number linked with the app and at the collection centre is the same, sending alarm bells ringing in the family.
After this, they reached out to the Health Minister’s office on Twitter to get a clarification but were told that as he did not receive a call, he could assume that he is COVID negative. He has now tweeted to the government authorities begging for clarity.
“Why are there two versions? Why can’t we get a COVID negative report? Why is one having to wait for a call and then assume it is negative? There are many questions unanswered,” added the patient. Owing to the unclear status of his COVID infection, he has had to face loss of pay and leave cuts.