Thane civic body sends notice to pvt lab over testing discrepancies

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has given a notice to a private Covid-19 testing laboratory and has proposed to cancel its testing licence after the corporation

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has given a notice to a private Covid-19 testing laboratory and has proposed to cancel its testing licence after the corporation found discrepancies in the results. On rechecking 12 of the swab samples tested by the lab, the civic lab found five samples negative, which the private lab had tested positive. The civic commissioner gave the lab 48 hours to give clarification or a criminal case will also be registered against them for violating the norms of Indian Council of Medical Research and wasting the resources of the city.

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The rising number of COVID cases in the last one week has led to cause of concern for the corporation. The corporation decided to cross check the result of the private laboratory in their laboratory.

Vijay Singhal, civic commissioner said, “We tested 12 samples which the laboratory reported positive on May 11 and 12. Out of these, we found five negative. The positive results led to a lot of mental and physical trouble to the people, while the resources of the city’s healthcare system were also wasted on people who were negative. We also realized that the discrepancies were due to the violation of ICMR norms by the lab.”

He added that the lab also did random testings without prescription of a doctor, which was not allowed as per the guidelines of the government. “We have served a notice to the lab that if they do not givea satisfactory response to the discrepancies we will register a criminal case against them. We have also proposed to cancel their testing license and they will not be allowed to carry further testings.”