Testing Delays Reported in UP as Second Wave of Covid-19 Rages, Labs Cite Administration Orders

Several pathology facilities have been ordered to “disallow” conducting tests by the administration in Uttar Pradesh even as the second wave of the Covid-19 infection continues to rage in the country.

In a report by the Economic Times, many diagnostic laboratories alleged that they have received orders from the administration to reduce testing and block the sample collection, despite a record jump in new variant of the Covid-19 infection in Lucknow. Few others have claimed a logical shortage for reduction of sample collection for conducting tests for Covid-19.

Sample collection centres of pathogical centers like Dr Lal Path-Labs and SRL Diagnostics have said that they had had to stop collecting samples for Covid-19 testing for close to 10 days now “because they have orders from the administration to not test,” the ET reported.

The allegations have surfaced a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered the establishment of a 1,000-bed makeshift COVID hospital here to tackle the rising number of coronavirus cases. The Chief Minister made the direction for setting up the hospital during a review meeting with divisional commissioners, district magistrates, chief medical officers and his Team-11 (a core team of 11 officers).

CM Adityanath has also ordered for ramping up of RT-PCR tests to at least 1.5 lakh each day in the state. But, the Covid-19 testing numbers in Uttar Pradesh hover around 95,000-98,000 RT-PCR tests daily.

Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary (information) Navneet Sehgal on Friday said that chief minister has ordered for strict action against private laboratories if they refuse to test despite having capacity, the ET report said.

Besides, Sehgal on Thursday said there was no shortage of oxygen cylinders in the state.

On the other hand, RML Mehrotra Pathology complained of logistical constraint for stopping sample collection at their centres. The pathology is only testing samples collected from the hospitals.

“We are collecting samples between 7 am and 2 pm only,” Nivaran Pathology and Diagnostics said.

Meanwhile, Health City and Trauma Centre said that it has stopped testing samples for a week and is testing those already under treatment in the hospital in case they have to undergo a surgery.

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