A 45-year-old man who got himself tested at two private Covid-19 labs in Chandigarh on the same day was confirmed positive by one and negative by the other.
Amit Singla, a businessman living in Sector 27B said he decided to get himself tested after returning from Leh on Saturday.
“After self-quarantining at home, I got the reports and discovered that the Atulaya Testing Lab report showed that I had Covid-19 while the other one from SRL Labs showed otherwise. This was confusing,” Singla said.
Dr Mini P Singh, professor at the department of virology at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), said contradictory results were possible and depended on the condition of sampling as well as storage of samples.
“Expertise at different levels is required to properly conduct a test. So, test results can be altered if a sample has not been taken correctly or is not properly stored. Labs should ideally keep a check on the number of positives being reported among the samples daily and there should not be a huge jump or dip. If technically the labs cannot rule out the infection or prove its presence, a repeat sample should be taken,” she added.
However, the patient had to be isolated till infection was ruled out, Dr Singh said.
{{/usCountry}}However, the patient had to be isolated till infection was ruled out, Dr Singh said.
{{/usCountry}}Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla said the administration should keep a check on such issues and testing in government sectors should be improved.
“This is the second time in a week that such a problem has come to fore. It is (due to) the carelessness of the administration,” Babla said.
Meanwhile, Autyuala Healthcare said they had proper checks and balances in place and testing was being done as per protocol.
“These are baseless allegations that the labs are minting money by giving false results. To clear the air, I have asked the health department to conduct an audit on the functioning of our lab,” said Pankaj Kansal, director, Atulaya Healthcare.
The response of SRL Diagnostics was awaited at the time of filing this report.