Govt warns pvt labs over testing errors

Private laboratories collecting and testing samples from Covid-19 suspects have been given 48 hours to get their act together failing which they will be shut down, the state government warned on Saturday.

An expert committee set up by the state health department to scrutinise the functioning of Centrally-accredited private labs had previously found several violations in protocols as well as unhygienic conditions and failure to follow standard operating procedures.

Though the state government was opposed allowing Covid-19 testing by private labs, it permitted them to begin functioning along with officially giving approval to private hospitals to admit and treat Coronavirus victims following orders issued by the Telangana High Court.

A committee of experts that inspected the private labs had found discrepancies in data pertaining to

AN EXPERT committee had scrutinised the Centrally-accredited private labs and found violation in protocols, unhygienic conditions. and failure to follow standard procedures.

the number of tests conducted, positives reported and portal updation. The committee also reported that the quality of testing was also compromised by some labs. Certain labs are reporting close to 70 per cent positivity rate which clearly denotes huge errors in the testing methodology.

The labs were inspected by four teams comprising senior microbiologists and officers of the health department.

They had submitted their reports which were examined by an expert committee of microbiology professors along with the director of medical education (DME), and Vice Chancellor of the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences.