KASARGOD: A day after the regulatory authorities of the UAE flagged four COVID testing labs in India for issuing fake negative certificates, the health officials in Kasaragod have sought action against six labs in the district for the same reason.
In a report, the district nodal officer for COVID-19 testing Dr John John K, said travel agencies have tied up with diagnostic labs to collect swabs for COVID testing without authorisation. He also suspected that the labs were issuing fake no-COVID certificates to the clients of the travel agencies to help them return to their workplaces abroad.
District medical officer Dr A V Ramdas has forwarded the report to collector D Sajith Babu seeking action against six labs and six individuals engaged in unauthorised swab collection. Express has accessed a copy of the report.
Dr John, in his report, said the swabs were collected even from houses without adhering to the protocol, thereby posing a public health hazard.
Travel agencies were offering COVID testing as a service along with ticketing and visa, the report said. "It has come to the notice that many travel agencies are advertising the COVID-19 testing through social media and print/ visual media," it said.
Since the travel agencies do not have designated lab facilities or swab collection centres, they arrange swab collection at the houses of the travellers, the report said.
There were two instances when persons who went abroad with no-COVID certificates tested positive in a foreign country, it said.
Health officials said they tested the family members back home and found several persons to be COVID positive. "There is a possibility that these labs provide fake COVID-19 reports to make sure the clients of the travel agencies get the clearance to travel abroad," the nodal officer said in the report.
Unauthorised labs
The unauthorised labs named in the report are KDC Lab, Uliyathadka in Madhur panchayat; Microhealth franchisee in Manjeshwar; Ideal Lab, Kumbla, Central Lab, Uppala, and MC Hospital in Trikaripur.
Microhealth and Aza Diagnostics are also accused of improperly collecting samples.
The report said Rayeed of Microhealth coordinated the deals between travel agencies and labs in Kozhikode for RTPCR tests.
According to the report, six persons worked for Rayeed: Irshad and Sreehari collected samples in the Kanhangad area; Siyad and Akhil collected samples from houses in the Trikaripur area, and Nihal and Faadil collected samples in the Kasaragod area.
The swabs are collected without permissions or precaution, compromising the samples, it said. "Many of the persons involved in swab collection also tested positive for COVID-19, which is a proof for their poor adherence to infection control protocols," the report said.
On Tuesday, Express reported that the regulatory authorities in Dubai asked Air India to reject the RT-PCR test reports from Suryam Lab in Jaipur, Microhealth Labs across Kerala, Dr P Bhasin Pathlabs (P) Ltd in Delhi, and Noble Diagnostic Centre in Delhi.