RML screening centre to function only between 9am and 5pm from Sunday

The hospital has seen a sharp increase in the number of patients coming in for Covid-19 testing over the last two days when the Delhi government barred seven laboratories in the city from testing samples.

The central government-run Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital has curbed the timings of their screening centre to limit the number of Covid-19 test samples collected. The screening centre, which used to be open throughout the day, will now function only between 9am and 5pm Sunday onwards, according to an order issued by the hospital.

The hospital can test 300 to 350 samples a day. However, it was routinely stretching its capacity to test about 400 samples a day. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

The hospital has seen a sharp increase in the number of patients coming in for Covid-19 testing over the last two days when the Delhi government barred seven laboratories in the city from testing samples. The government said they were not following proper Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines for testing.

The hospital can test 300 to 350 samples a day. However, it was routinely stretching its capacity to test about 400 samples a day.

“We have been working over capacity for some time now; we had to ask our staff to work overtime. But, over the past two days we have started receiving around 500 samples a day and it has become unmanageable. Hence, we have curtailed the timings,” Dr Minakshi Bharadwaj, medical superintendent of the hospital, said.

The Aam Aadmi Party had earlier alleged that they found a 45% error on retesting 30 samples tested at RML hospital. The hospital said that the subsequent samples had been collected after 7 to 14 days, during which time the patients might have cleared the virus from their system.