COVID TESTS: THREE INSTITUTES ASKED TO CORRECT DATA UPLOADING GLITCHES

LUCKNOW: The details of over 8000 patients, who underwent Covid RT-PCR tests, were filled erroneously by three labs at King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) and Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences that has created problems in contact tracing, an official letter indicates.

The staff at KGMU made the erroneous entries against 3749 samples tested there; there were data entry errors at SGPGIMS with regard to 1078 samples and at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Science there were such 4049 samples (total 8876 ), said a letter of the director general medical health to the three institutes.

“You may correct the incorrectly uploaded data and also ensure that such errors are not done so that the rapid response teams at the community health centre level are able to perform their duty. Else the responsibility of incorrect data will be upon you,” said DG in his letter to the three premier institutes of the state that collectively conduct the maximum tests in the state via RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) method.

The issue came to light when rapid response teams went to the addresses mentioned against IDs of the tested persons with Covid-19 positive reports. The teams found the persons had been already given medical kits. On being asked, the persons told the teams that they had given the swab sample again to check their current Covid status (second test). In many cases, repeat samples of the same person have been mentioned with different IDs generated by labs. Teams that went to the address found the person was tested earlier also and had already received medical kit and advice.