UP needs more Covid-19 tests and laboratories, say experts
UP’s per case testing ratio is better than several other states, says government
LUCKNOW: Supposedly inadequate coronavirus testing facilities and uneven distribution of labs in Uttar Pradesh is making people wait for days before their Covid-19 status becomes clear, according to experts who say the number of tests should go up.
The state has reached an average of 12,500 tests per day but is well short of the need, the experts add.
A state health department officer says the daily pendency of samples is 9,000. Principal secretary, health and medical welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said the state government was increasing the testing capacity.
Dr PK Gupta, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Lucknow, says, “Ideally, there should be one lab in each district or at least one lab between two districts.”
However, state surveillance officer Dr Vikasendu Agrawal says, “UP’s per case testing ratio is better than several other states. The state has reported 11,610 cases till now and 3,91,286 samples have been tested.”
LUCKNOW: Supposedly inadequate coronavirus testing facilities and uneven distribution of labs in Uttar Pradesh are making people wait for days before their Covid-19 status becomes clear, according to experts who say the number of tests should go up.
The state has reached an average of 12,500 tests per day but is well short of the need, according to the experts.
Take the case of Sunil Bansal in Varanasi. His sample was taken on May 17 and the Covid-19 positive report came on May 28. Since then, he is in an isolation facility in the Pandeypur area of Varanasi. Another sample was taken on June 5. “It’s five days now, but the report hasn’t come. I am hoping, I am cured but can’t leave the centre until the report comes,” said Bansal, a pharmacist who was on railway station duty before testing positive.
Samples from Varanasi are tested at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The same lab also tests samples from Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Bhadohi, Ghazipur, Mau, Azamgarh and Ballia districts, which collectively have a population of about 2.50 crore. The BHU lab has tested a maximum of 330 samples in a day.
“Delay in test reports is a double blow. First, an infected person may be moving around. Second, a cured patient’s stay may get prolonged in an isolation centre,” said Sunil Yadav, president of the government pharmacist federation, Uttar Pradesh.
The BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur also has to test samples from many districts.
“We test samples for seven districts in Gorakhpur and Basti divisions with a capacity of about 1,000 tests per day,” said Dr Ganesh Kumar, principal of the college. In Meerut, the samples came from the adjoining districts of Baghpat, Saharanpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Noida, Bijnor and Hapur.
Out of the total 34,000 samples tested in Meerut lab, 16,132 were of Meerut and 17,868 of other districts. The average time taken for testing samples is 68 hours.
The lab at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), Aligarh Muslim University, caters to the districts of Kasganj, Hathras, Etah, Mathura, Badaun and Aligarh.
This lab gives reports in six hours and it can conduct about 250 tests in a day.
Till now, it has conducted more than 16,000 tests out of which 350 were positive.
In Agra, the labs are at Sarojini Naidu Medical College and Jalma Institute for Leprosy & Other Mycobacterial Diseases. The test reports are obtained within 24 hours.
There are three private labs too, but their services are not constant. Over 200 tests are conducted in Agra daily. Cases from nearby districts too reach Agra.
Lucknow has seven government labs and the reporting time is between 24 and 36 hours for coronavirus samples. King George’s Medical University lab receives samples from other districts also such as Barabanki, Gonda, Bahraich, Hardoi, Sitapur, Unnao, Ayodhya, Farrukhabad, Sambhal, Shahjahanpur, Kannauj and Hathras.
KGMU’s microbiology lab tests over 1200 samples each day.
State surveillance officer Dr Vikasendu Agrawal said, “UP’s per case testing ratio is better than several other states. The state has reported 11,610 cases till now.”
A state health department officer says in February the state had to send samples to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune and National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi.
Later, testing started at labs in KGMU, Lucknow and JLNMC, AMU, Aligarh after training the lab personnel and equipping the laboratories.
From mid- March, testing also started at medical colleges in Meerut, Agra, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur. Now, 22 government laboratories and 10 private laboratories are testing samples in the state. Still, the daily pendency of samples was 9,000, he said.
Principal secretary, health and medical welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said the state government was increasing the testing capacity. Testing of samples started in four more hospitals on Wednesday, he added.
“We are working to clear the pendency and increase the testing by setting up new laboratories. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up virology laboratories in all the 75 district hospitals and the work on their establishment has started,” he said.
Dr Vikasendu Agrawal also said, “TrueNat Machines have been installed in all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh and will be used for testing the samples of suspected coronavirus patients.”
The state reported the first coronavirus case on March 2 and about four lakh (400,000) samples have been tested till now.
A STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT OFFICER SAYS IN FEBRUARY THE STATE HAD TO SEND SAMPLES TO NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY (NIV), PUNE AND NATIONAL CENTRE FOR DISEASE CONTROL, DELHI.
TIME TAKEN FOR TRANSPORTATION
Samples from the same district reach the lab the same day. From other districts, it takes up to 24 hours.
“One person carrying samples from Azamgarh to Varanasi will take over three hours to reach (the lab). And if all samples of the district are to be collected, the delay in samples reaching the lab could be 12 hours, which means the test report can take over 48 hours to reach the patient/doctor,” said Dr PK Gupta, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Lucknow.
“People in Lucknow get reports the next day as their
samples, which are collected in the day, reach the lab by evening. Having one lab among five or seven districts is practically incorrect. Ideally, there should be one lab in each district or at least one lab between two districts,” said Dr Gupta.
Officials said equipment and training for the staff were needed to set up a lab for high-precision tests. Dr Gupta said the facility for antibody tests could be developed at district hospitals and it did not need high-end training. “It’s a simple test and can tell the spread of virus authentically,” said Dr Gupta. UP has over 150 district level hospitals.
“Before each lab starts functioning, training is provided to
the staff,” said Dr Agrawal.
“One lab is attending samples from multiple districts, hence the connection between labs and districts has been made dynamic. If one lab gets an excessive load, we transfer the samples coming there from one or two districts to another lab,” said Dr Agrawal.
Dr RB Singh, former additional director (administration) in the state health department, said, “Uttar Pradesh at present is not aware of where it stands in terms of coronavirus cases. In fact, only aggressive testing can tell this status. Hence, it should be increased swiftly so that we know the accurate number of cases.”