Covid test results see five-day delay; labs work overtime in Pune
Pune: Though Pune city is carrying out more than 24,000 tests every day, there has been delay in getting the results
Pune: Though Pune city is carrying out more than 24,000 tests every day, there has been delay in getting the results. As many residents are reporting at the medical centres for tests, results are taking over four to five days. On Thursday, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) collected 22,277 samples for testing for Covid-19.
Speaking about the delay, Nishi Parkhe, a resident of Kothrud, said that she had to visit several hospitals and laboratories to get the test done.
She had to wait for five days before getting her reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results.
“I visited several hospitals last Thursday and Friday to get the test done. My husband has tested positive. But on weekends, no lab was taking the sample. At last I found a lab who took swab sample on Friday evening. But the sample was registered on Monday. And the test came negative late on Wednesday night. My husband was in home isolation. And I wanted to get the test done to ensure that I was negative,” said Parkhe.
Dr Awanti Golwilkar-Mehendale, chief of laboratory at AG Diagnostics, said that laboratories are overloaded with samples due to rising positive patients of Covid.
“When we started last year, we were testing around 80 to 100 tests a day. We had increased testing to around 1,000 tests a day during the last wave. And in the last few weeks, we have ramped up to more than 2,000 tests a day. There is a huge inflow of patients coming for testing. We have redirected our staff to address this process,” said Dr Mehendale.
She said that labs across the city are working overtime to provide results as soon as possible to patients.
“Test reports that show markers of a critical patient, we alert the patient. Many labs in the city have ramped up their services and are trying to conduct more tests,” said Dr Mehendale.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant chief, PMC health department, said that as the three government labs were full, there was delay in getting results, but the condition has improved.
“The lab kits at many private labs were over. Now, the condition has improved and reports are being issued without delay,” said Dr Wavare.