State surveillance asks private labs to send test results to CMO first

Uttar Pradesh’s state surveillance officer for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has written to the Centre to pass an order making it compulsory for private labs

Uttar Pradesh’s state surveillance officer for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has written to the Centre to pass an order making it compulsory for private labs to ensure that all test results are first sent to the chief medical officer (CMO) concerned of their respective areas.

HT Image

The letter was sent by Vikasendu Agarwal, state surveillance officer, on Sunday morning.

According to officials, there are chances that people with positive results may hide the fact out of embarrassment or fear or lack of knowledge about the disease.

“We have written to the central government that private labs shouldn’t be allowed to give out Covid-19 test results to the patient. Patients can hide the information and it is important to follow protocol to ensure that there is no spread. It is important that the results should first reach the CMO who can then send than ambulance and officers concerned to transfer the patient comfortably and admit him/her,” Agarwal said.

“We want to ensure that the situation is tackled properly so that there is no further spread. Four special health officers who have worked at the WHO have been sent to Gautam Budh Nagar. Officers have also been sent to Ghaziabad, Meerut and Agra,”Agarwal added.

The state government has also made it compulsory that anyone with severe respiratory issues with a travel history interstate or aboard is tested. “We have told all district health officials that people with a history of interstate or foreign travel having severe respiratory issues must be tested for Covid-19 tests as a precautionary measure,” Agarwal said.

There are seven government labs and one private lab (Dr Malhotra Path Labs) in Lucknow that are conducting Covid-19 tests.

On Saturday, the managing director of a firm in Sector 135 whose 22 employees were found infected with Covid-19 had got himself and his wife tested at a private lab. The MD got in touch with officials with the positive test results. His test was conducted by the officials again to confirm his previous results. The wife was found negative.

The district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar has passed an order that the owners of factories, shops, malls and other organisations who are under temporary lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak will have to give paid leave of 28 days to their employees if any of them is a Covid-19 suspect or has been put under quarantine.

The DM also said in the order that industries, shops and all the organisations that are closed as per the orders of the state government or the district magistrate will have to pay their employees along with providing them leaves following the lockdown.

On Saturday, authorities in the district issued an order directing landlords against forcing tenants to pay their rents for a month to stop migrant workers from leaving the western Uttar Pradesh district amid the three-week lockdown imposed across the country to halt the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Various measures have been taken by the district administration to ensure that migrant workers don’t leave the district to stop the spreading of the virus. Also, most migrant workers are involved in the supply chain of essential services so those leaving the district might hamper important services.