THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A visit to a private hospital for treating fever is likely to be more cumbersome as patients may have to undergo both antigen and RT-PCR tests as per the new guidelines issued by the state health department on Wednesday.RT-PCR tests would be conducted only if a symptomatic patient turns negative in antigen tests. However, patients may end up paying for both considering the low accuracy of antigen tests.
While it would ramp up the number of tests, some private hospital managements have expressed concern over the additional burden on patients. “We are in a peculiar situation. It would be hard to explain the need for additional test and added cost,” said one hospital administrator.The antigen test costs `300 and an RT-PCR test costs Rs 1,700. Despite doubts over its efficacy, antigen test is still used for getting quick results.
RT-PCR, though considered a gold standard for Covid test, takes up to two days to give result. “Based on antigent test results, we decide to take a patient to the general ward or Corona ward. There is a 50 per cent chance that we may err,” said Dr Padmanabha Shenoy, an immunologist, who has been critical of the antigen-based testing.
There are also concerns among health professionals that the antigen test kits are available for price ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 355 with varying specificity.Dr Sreekumar R C, Indian Medical Association (IMA) research cell head, said treatment centres can wait for two days to get the RT-PCR result. “However persons with severe pneumonia infection cannot wait for so long and the hospitals will have to take the decision based on the antigen test,” he said.
Also, those who have recovered from Covid would still turn out to be positive in RT-PCR tests conducted within three months of infection. According to Dr Sreekumar, the problem could be resolved with the popular use of Loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP, which gives accurate results in less time. The test is yet to get approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The test can be done for Rs 1,150.