Can’t set up Covid test centre in each district: Govt to HC

Maharashtra government on Friday informed the Bombay high court (HC) it was not possible to set up full-fledged Covid-19 testing facilities in all districts and added that the government is fulfilling the guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to have one testing lab in a radius of 250 kilometres. The submission from the state in an unsigned note drew displeasure from the division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and Justice KK Tated.

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The court questioned the state on how it could put such a submission when the effects of the virus was widespread and said it was an ‘irresponsible’ statement. The bench further sought the presence of advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni. The advocate general admitted that it was wrong and that there should be testing facilities in each district, following which the court told the advocate general that such an approach by the state was not acceptable and asked for a responsible official to respond to the issue next week.

The state submission came as a response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Khalil Ahmed Hasanmiya Wasta, a 58-year-old fisherman from Ratnagiri, who prayed for a full-fledged Covid-19 testing laboratory in Ratnagiri. The PIL claimed a testing facility was needed in the area as around 60,000 people had come back to the Konkan region which includes the districts of Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg, from Mumbai and Pune since the government had allowed intra-state travelling. The petition went on to claim that before the travel ban was lifted there were only seven cases of Covid-19, which has increased to 108 since.

The petition claimed that swab samples had be to send to Sangli and Miraj which are around 237 kilometres away from Ratnagiri, which led to a delay in results, thereby endangering the lives of locals.

The state in its response informed the court that the work to set up a testing lab at Ratnagiri Civil Hospital was already underway as per a government resolution dated May 25, and that it would be functional within eight days.

The state went on to submit that new laboratories could not be set up instantly as there were severe constraints in terms of availability of technical infrastructure in each district, and that as per ICMR standards a lab is required only in those areas where there are more than 100 suspected cases per day. The state, hence, claimed that there was no need to have a testing facility in each district.