TS lags in tracing after tests

Positive patients go to work, roam in city

Testing on 50,000 people, announced by the government, has started on a massive scale in Hyderabad and other districts but human resources to collect samples and follow up for contact tracing are not adequate.

Around 1,200 samples are being collected daily in Osmania General Hospital but there is only one technician on duty for the tests.

In private hospitals, the queue begins early in the morning and it can be late afternoon by the time some people get their samples are collected.

Yet, in every constituency, the municipal corporator and MLA are urging people to get tested. While there are enough kits, the manpower to carry out the tests is lacking. Delayed results cause a chain reaction — in the follow-up of positive patients, alerting their primary contacts, and treatment of the patient.

Mohan Babu (name changed) had fever for 10 days but his X-ray did not show any congestion of the lungs or lesions. It was suspected to be a normal viral fever.

When medication did not work, a CT scan was advised and the typical ground-glass appearance of the SARS-Cov2 virus was noted.

A test at a private hospital confirmed he had Covid-19.

He is being treated in hospital but for 10 days before that, despite the fever, Babu went to office and other places in the city.

Government officials found his list of contacts to be some 2,000 people. His immediate family and friends have isolated but others who came in contact with him are not aware of his status and they would not know that they are carriers of the virus till symptoms emerge.

A senior health official said such cases are becoming difficult to handle because “there are very limited number of officials to trace the contacts as most of them have been exposed and have developed symptoms. These people have been asked to self-quarantine. Follow-up is on telephone with those whose numbers are shared. Those whom they are not aware of are best left to themselves.”

Officials say many people want to be tested but not all have symptoms. Those who have mild symptoms are trying to manage at home. They do not want to get exposed to infections in hospital.

A health worker in a private hospital said there is a shortage of healthcare workers at all levels, as duties are on rotational basis. Despite personal protection equipment, many health workers have tested positive and are in quarantine or home treatment. Delay in getting the results is leading to delay in treatment, with patients developing severe pneumonia and complications.

Gandhi Hospital admits patients after their test results are provided and some patients are arriving with severe symptoms. Till the time the treatment regime is initiated, patients are collapsing.

According to sources in Gandhi Hospital, in the last 15 days deaths have occurred among patients who arrived two or three days ago. This is due to delay in getting the results. This gap is being seen as the reason for the increasing number of deaths.

Of the 500 patients in Gandhi Hospital, 20 are on ventilator, 60 on oxygen, 230 have mild symptoms and 190 are under observation.