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Covid-19: Woman sent home for ‘testing -ve’, brought back next day as ‘infected’
Verka senior medical officer Dr Desh Raj said that this happened because there were two women of the same name
A 42-year-old Nanded-returnee woman from Baba Bakala sub-division in Amritsar district was sent home by the health department on Saturday for having tested negative for Covid-19 but was brought back the next day saying she was found positive for the disease, putting a question mark on the credibility of the testing process.
The Lohgarh village resident, who returned from Nanded in one of the buses sent by the Punjab government on April 29, was quarantined at the congregation centre of Dera Radha Soami at Verka on the outskirts of Amritsar city.
Her husband said, “The health department collected swab samples of my wife and other pilgrims who were quarantined on May 1. Of the 41 persons, 14 tested positive and were admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH0, Amritsar. The rest of 27 who tested negative were kept in isolation till May 9.”
“I received a phone call on Sunday afternoon. The person on call informed me that they are coming to take my wife again as her report was positive. I brought it to the notice of the tehsildar concerned who too said the reports of 27 pilgrims, including my wife, were negative. But a health department team along with police personnel took my wife along,” he added.
“I demanded from them the report in which she had tested positive. The report they provided me has no stamp and signature and looks like a forged one. The matter should be investigated thoroughly,” he said.
Verka senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Desh Raj said, “This happened because there were two women of the same name.”
On the other hand, Amritsar civil surgeon Dr Jugal Kishore said, “She had not tested negative, but her report was pending. She along with other Nanded-returnees was sent home because we had to vacate the quarantine centre for more persons to be put under quarantine. Her report came on Sunday evening, according to which she tested positive.”
Charandeep Singh Bhinder, a social worker who raised the issue with the health department, said another test should be conducted on the woman.
