Staff crunch, high volume of samples delay Covid reports

Owners of several testing centres said shortage of manpower and an increase in the number of requests for testing have led to instances of samples getting lost.

Mahesh Singh Rajput (63), a resident of southwest Delhi’s Dwarka, made several frantic calls to diagnostic centres in his locality for home collection of samples after his 59-year-old wife started showing Covid-19 symptoms. After at least eight labs declined, he drove his wife, who was already suffering from incessant coughing and high fever by then, to a diagnostic centre and waited for around 30 minutes before his wife’s sample was collected.

Many residents in Delhi are facing hurdles in getting tested for Covid-19--be it at their homes or at diagnostic centres. (Bloomberg)

His wait, however, did not end there. It took two days for the blood reports to arrive and another two days for the RT PCR report to come, which confirmed that Rajput’s wife had tested positive for Covid-19.

“Though we started the basic treatment for her, the doctors kept asking for the blood test reports to determine the severity of her infection. We got the results four days after my wife started showing the first symptom,” said Rajput.

Many residents in Delhi are facing hurdles in getting tested for Covid-19--be it at their homes or at diagnostic centres. With testing facilities being pushed to the limits amid the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, booking a slot for RT-PCR test and blood sample collection for CRP (C-reactive protein), D-Dimer and IL-6 and getting the reports, is proving to be quite a challenge.

Owners of several private and government testing centres said shortage of manpower and an overwhelming surge in requests for testing has led to instances of samples getting lost and longer wait for test results.

On April 22, the Delhi high court directed the state government to ensure test reports are delivered within 48 hours

Many private labs said several staff members testing positive for Covid-19 and many others not reporting to work have led to severe shortage of trained manpower in laboratories conducting RT-PCR tests.

“There is acute shortage of manpower. My technicians have to look inside the mouth of a suspected patient and collect the sample, what is the incentive? They too have families,” said the owner of one of Delhi’s biggest laboratories.

Lab technologists in the city reiterated that manpower crunch has also forced most laboratories to stop collecting samples from home. It has also resulted in delay in giving the reports.

“There may be some laboratories that are picking up more samples that they can process, thereby delaying the reports. At our centre, we collect only as many samples we can process in a single day. Earlier, we used to keep our sample collection centre open from 8am to 8pm. Now, with people rushing to get tested, we collect samples till about 1pm and on some days, till 11am,” said the owner of another laboratory in Delhi.

A third laboratory owner said, “With the government capping the prices of RT-PCR tests, it is a challenge for laboratories to buy new machines and hire people to do the tests. When the pandemic is over, these machines are likely to be underutilised.”

While labs are grappling with problems of their own, doctors said early detection of infection is the key to control the symptoms.

“A delayed test report holds no value. In many cases, the symptoms start manifesting very fast and to control them, you need to put the patient on anti-viral or on steroids. This is why we need to scale up testing and make it more efficient. The load of the virus, if detected early on, can be controlled. We have observed mild cases turn severe just because requisite reports are not delivered on time,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Safdarjung hospital.