THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The health department’s decision to conduct mass testing without adequate preparation has drawn flak from doctors. According to them, the move could be counter-productive even with the best intention to find the maximum number of people with Covid.
The health department has planned 3.75 lakh Covid tests on Thursday and Friday. It is in addition to the 1.1 lakh to 1.5 lakh daily tests. The experts have pointed out the need for more testing as part of the containment strategy. However, the doctors working in government hospitals complained that the department had not prepared well for the exercise.
“We have not yet improved our capacity to conduct more tests. As a result, there will be more delay in getting the results. A delayed result will do more harm than good because those who have undergone testing may think that they are not infected. They go around freely and cause further spread,” said a doctor working in a public health centre.
The department has decided to use both antigen and RT-PCR tests. The government facilities have the capacity to conduct 28,000 to 30,000 RT-PCR tests a day. It has been found that people have to wait for over a week to get the test results from a government lab. The augmented testing would result in further delay. At least, that was the experience when the department had carried out a similar exercise in the fourth week of April this year.
“The problem with augmented testing is that it also delays the test results of other patients who would benefit from an early treatment. The government has not done much to add more resources to go for augmented testing,” said the doctor.
The Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association came out openly against the augmented testing in April. But the then health minister K K Shailaja snubbed them saying that testing was done based on expert advice.
Though the resource constraint is still there this time, the department has given flexibility to districts to decide on the testing strategy according to the capacity.
“The turnaround time for an antigen test is relatively less as compared to an RT-PCR test. It is unlike last year when there was a target for each district to do RT-PCR tests. But there is still some problems at the peripheral level as the order says that the people coming to the OP should be tested for Covid. A person coming to the OP for a dog bite, for instance, may not be willing to undergo a Covid test,” said a RMO in a general hospital.
Association president G S Vijayakrishnan said more testing by ensuring more resources is the need of the hour as the state is facing the possibility of a third wave. The state chapter of Indian Medical Association which had criticised the Covid containment strategies of the government recently said contact tracing testing, instead of community testing, is effective in finding Covid-positive people.
28,000 to 30,000 RT-PCR tests can be done in government labs in state per day as of now