E-Paper
Why PMC’s contact tracing system: stretched and willing, but not able
There is also a delay in the civic system’s positive Covid data reaching each ward.
The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) contact tracing ability is being severely tested thanks to a variety of factors all coinciding at the same time.
An increase in the number of Covid care centres has stretched the civic staff. Rapid antigen tests have increased the number of positive cases being reported, with the city now recording at least 1,500 fresh positive cases daily.
There is also a delay in the civic system’s positive Covid data reaching each ward.
While the state’s average contact tracing is 21 per positive person, the Pune civic bod was operating on a number of nine persons traced per positive person, which has now gone up to 13.
It is still not enough and at least three cases that HT contacted showed no contact tracing done.
A man in his mid-30s, living in Yerwada, tested positive for Covid-19 through the rapid antigen detection testing kits on July 13.
The patient said, “Soon after I got the result I left the Covid care centre, but there was no stamp or any guidance about what I should do next. I home isolated myself on my own. The PMC has no record of me and has not reached out to my family or anyone for contact tracing.”
Another person living on Sinhgad road who tested negative but his roommate tested positive, said, “The PMC did not contact any of us for further contacts. Even though only the two of us were sharing the room it is quite possible that my roommate may have infected others when he went outside. The civic body only fogged the premises around our room. The PMC did not contact my roommate and ask him who all he met in the past two days.”
A 62-year-old male tested positive from Hadapsar on July 16 at a private hospital, but the family of the patient, which also includes a high-risk patient, were never contacted. One of the relatives said, “Till July 18, the civic body did not contact us until we contacted them. The next day when we voluntarily went to the Covid care centre at the PMC school in Hadapsar, there were close to 500 people there. The centre was supposed to start at 10 am, but till 12 noon, not a single person was tested.”
Dr Sanjay Dabhade of Jan Aarogya Abhiyan said, “The PMC must trace every person who might have come in contact with a positive person two days prior to the symptoms appearing; now that the results are coming in within two-three days, contact tracing needs to be backdated even more Without much contact tracing, it is impossible to break the chain and with Pune reporting an alarming number of cases daily. Only more testing, tracing and isolation will help control the cases.”
What the PMC says:
Dr Vaishali Jadhav from the PMC’s health department said, “Earlier I had a staff of 1,200 people, but now, due to multiple centres working, the staff is divided and I only have 500 people left working for me. However, we still try to do aggressive contact tracing. With regards to the Hadapsar ward, the civic doctor is currently not feeling well and I am not able to find another doctor to replace her. With regards to the rapid antigen testing, this is a new phenomenon and we are still getting used to it. However, we have asked our staff to collect the contact details of the patient as soon as the result comes in. It is time now that people must reach out to the civic body if they get to know that they have come in contact with any positive patient. Once a person is positive, the reports are compiled by the Smart City unit and is then sent to us. It takes three days for us to get the list, which is then sent to the respective wards.”
