VIJAYAWADA: The government hospitals of Krishna district are forced to get swine flu confirmation tests done at Tirupati, despite there being a testing centre in Guntur as the swabs available with doctors in the district are obsolete as far as the machinery at Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory centre in Guntur is concerned.
It is relevant to note that reports from Tirupati arrived afte the recent death of a 3-year-old in the city.
The number of swine flu cases in the state is on the rise and health officials are constantly advising people to take preventive measures. However, there are only three testing centres across the state, one each in Guntur, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. Nasal and throat swabs of patients showing symptoms of the disease are to be sent to the centres that test for H1N1 virus.
The testing swabs available with hospitals in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts should ideally be sent to the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) of Visakhapatnam as it is the nearest. And swabs from West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam must be sent to VRDL-Guntur. VRDL- Tirupati is closest to hospitals in Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore and Anantapur.
The distance between Vijayawada and Tirupati is over 400 m and swabs from the city take around six hours to reach the testing centre. Thanks to the old swabs not being replaced, there seems to be absolutely no use of the state-of-the-art machinery in the Guntur centre located just 50 minutes away. Sources said that the long route delays reports by days.
“The VRDL was set up recently with modernised machinery and the swabs used on a regular basis don't match the equipment. In order to clear the gap, we will send the swabs and the collection kits from here to the Vijayawada hospital. By the end of this week, the swabs will reach to Vijayawada GGH and the tests can be done from Guntur,” said Dr Devanaboina Raju Naidu, Superintendent Guntur GGH.
“Till now we have sent the swabs to Tirupati VRDL, but from now on we will send it to Guntur. The VRDL of Guntur region was opened few weeks ago,” said M Jaganmohan, sperintendent Vijayawada GGH.