BENGALURU: Just like private hospitals, private labs declining to take samples for Covid-19 testing and piling up a backlog will be penalised and booked. This decision was taken by Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials on Wednesday. At a meeting with health and civic authorities from across the state, via video conference, the minister sought to know why there was a backlog, and was informed that private labs were refusing samples. Sudhakar asked officials to take action against them. Sources from BBMP told The New Indian Express: “As the government is working on ramping up testing to one lakh samples a day, there is a need to clear backlog. For this, testing needs to be ramped up in government and private labs.
Many private labs are rejecting samples because of backlog, shortage of manpower and facilities. Despite strict government orders to have automated machines, they are doing RTPCR analysis manually and working single shift. This is leading to delay in identifying patients and treating them. So it was decided to list out such labs and take action against them.” It was also decided to help upgrade manpower at Kidwai and Nimhans labs with lab aggregators, swab aggregators and data entry operators.
“At government labs, civic authorities will supply manpower, but at private labs, since the government is paying them, they will have to enhance manpower and facilities themselves. If it is not done, the labs can be shut down,” the source said. This decision holds good for the entire state.
“The minister said that action should also be taken if labs decline to accept samples for testing or even if they refer it to another lab. The officials were instructed to streamline the process, ensure equi-distribution of samples and ensure that labs are not overburdened,” the source said. In all, there are eight government labs and 21 private labs in Bengaluru alone for Covid-19 testing, yet there is a backlog of 30,000-40,000 samples. At the meeting, Sudhakar said that now on, Covid test reports can be accessed online using the SRF ID. The reports will be available on www.covidwar. karnataka.gov.in/service1