VIJAYAWADA: People's wait for Covid testing across the state continues even as the official machinery is taking all steps to ramp up testing. In several districts, a common complaint is that the results are delayed by 2-3 days. The shortage of laboratory personnel is one of the main reasons for the backlog in testing.
In Tirupati, where more cases are reported every day, testing has been delayed due to technical snags. SVR Ruia Hospital superintendent Dr Bharathi said that around 2,000 tests are being conducted in a day and they will be increased to 2,500 soon. “Due to technical snags, the test results were delayed in the last 2-3 days and now that the issue has been rectified, the results will be given in 24 hours,” she said. However, when the helpline number for Covid testing was contacted, the helpdesk staff in SVR Ruia informed that the test results will take 3-4 days.
In Nellore district, 5,000 tests are being conducted on an average in a day. Two centres were set up for Covid testing in Government General hospital in Nellore. “Now, we have been speeding up the process of testing, tracing and treatment in the district,” said sources in the Medical and Health department. The city, which has 8 lakh population, has only two government testing centres.Even though private labs have been conducting RT PCR tests, they have been charging. Unable to bear the cost, people have been rushed to the government testing centres in GGH in Nellore. In fact, the Nellore city has recorded 50 per cent of positive cases of the district in the last 10 days.
In Visakhapatnam, the surge in Covid second wave cases triggered a rush for vaccination and tests. Since only 3,000 to 4,000 tests are being done at only limited primary health centres, there are rush. Even the results are getting delayed due to a backlog at the virology lab at King George Hospital. AMC principal PV Sudhakar told TNIE that they decided to ramp up the number of tests. He said the testing centre at ENT Hospital was closed due to exams for students. The tests will resume from Wednesday at the ENT hospital. He said there was no problem or shortage of kits for conducting tests.
Moreover, mobile teams have been deployed for conducting tests. Dr Sudhakar said tracing, testing and treatment were equally important and hence they were giving priority to all. At the same time, the number of tests in the district last year stood at 7,000 a day. Even the results of the tests done at KGH were delayed for the last few days and there was a backlog of 1,000 samples at the KGH lab. Dr Sudhakar said there was some technical issue, which has been resolved. All the backlog will be cleared soon, he said.
A long queue was seen at the testing centre in Maharaja Government Hospital, Vizianagaram on Tuesday. Health officials said that they collect over 650 samples per day, and that the count goes up to 750 on Mondays and Fridays. Here also, people are getting test results after 2-3 days.
A similar situation prevails in Guntur and Vijayawada. In Guntur, 8,000 tests are being done, but results could only be known after 2-3 days. In Vijayawada and other parts of Krishna district, the situation is no different. With the government focusing only on focused testing and those vulnerable to Covid instead of random testing, the wait for getting tested is only increasing.
Diversion of the available staff for vaccination has also impacted the testing and now with pressure mounting, the testing at PHCs and CHCs, which was discontinued, has recommenced again. Meanwhile, the government has issued orders appointing technical persons at all testing labs. Further, with the relaunch of Trunat machines, the long queues in front of testing centres are expected to shorten in the coming days.