COIMBATORE: Mismanagement in the handling of samples at various levels is affecting timely declaration of test results in Coimbatore, health department sources said.
Roughly 7,000 samples are collected every day in the district since the beginning of September.
However, when the health department saw a large influx of samples two weeks ago, it decided to send some amount of samples to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai for testing.
An official said, "About 1,000 to 1,500 samples are being sent to Madurai in a mini truck every day. As this has become a routine, we had to make a line-list containing particulars of persons to avoid samples getting mixed up during transport."
The official said samples collected from primary health centres are not arranged in an order. The onus falls on the staff, at ESI Hospital, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital or the office of Deputy Director of Health Services, to do the sorting before sending them to respective labs for testing.
The official further stated that the declaration of results may also be delayed due to mixing up of samples.
A health department employee from Mettupalayam said that he had to come to the Deputy Director of Health Services' office in Race Course after ESI Hospital refused to take samples for testing.
"The ESI Hospital officials said they already have many pending samples. So, I didn't have any other option than coming directly to the health department's office to know other alternatives."
Asked whether the mismanagement is causing the delay, a higher official claimed that the results are notified within 48 hours of testing.