CHENNAI: 62-year-old Thilagavathi was tested for Covid-19 on Monday after she developed a fever. Her results came back on Wednesday and the family was informed that she had tested positive. However, by then, she had died of breathlessness.
“We had already guessed that she would be positive, because she was showing all possible symptoms. But, breathlessness occurred suddenly, and we did not even expect it,” said Thilagavathi’s son, who did not want to be named. “In these cases, a matter of even one or two days may have a huge impact.” Thilagavathi’s was not an isolated incident. 50-year-old Sunil (name changed) was tested on June 14, and his results came back positive, three days later, on June 17 in the evening.
By then, his symptoms had worsened, and he had been denied treatment by private hospitals who asked him to wait till his results were back. Sunil was then admitted to a government hospital, with high fever and 25 per cent lung infection. Even as the testing has been ramped up consistently in the city over the past few weeks, issues of backlogs in results and the gap between the onset of symptoms and the results, may pose new challenges. In yet another incident, a 29-year-old resident of Ambattur was tested on June 14. While he had fever, he had to wait for four days for his results.
He was tested negative for the virus. While it may not have done damage in the case of an otherwise healthy male, four days may prove costly in case of others who may require immediate medical attention, considering that several private hospitals refuse to treat them until their test results came back. A corporation official said that there have been instances of backlogs in the last few days due to overload in testing labs. “But, we are following up with those that show symptoms during our survey, to check if they are facing other difficulties,” the official added.
P Kulandaisamy, former director of public health said, lab testing should not be linked with the treatment of a patient. “When we push for higher testing, we should also have our infrastructure-capability in mind. In many cases, patients are misguided – people tell them it’s okay if they have other symptoms, and ask them to come when they have breathlessness.” “Breathlessness is the beginning of the end,” he said, adding that a new onset of severe cough and low oxygen levels, were symptoms enough for people to get admitted.
He also said some might also have non-specific symptoms, that is when the patients or their caretaker is unable to explain the symptoms. A senior official in the health department told TNIE that the load on government labs was much more than that on the private labs, because of the difference in capabilities. “There are around 107 labs in the State, and about 55,000-60,000 samples come in.
Data shows that government labs get almost 75-78 per cent load, and only the remaining goes to private labs,” the official said, adding that private labs don’t run three shifts like they do at government labs.
However, a senior official of the city corporation said that in cases of breathlessness, patients are monitored closely to bring down mortality. “We shift them to hospitals even during the surveillance stage. The labs are working overtime now, like never before,” he said.