With increased testing, results coming late in GB Nagar

Several people HT spoke to attested to receiving the certificate at least four days after giving their sample. According to the Gautam Budh Nagar notices, results are supposed to be given to people within three days.

On September 26, a 22-year-old woman, who did not wish to be named, was cursing her fate in front of the office of Gautam Budh Nagar district chief medical officer (CMO).

CMO Dr. Deepak Ohri said that there are four ICMR-approved laboratories in the district that tests for Covid-19. (HT Photo)

During these times, she was one of the lucky ones with a job offer in hand from a company in Bengaluru. She was all prepared to join the company on September 28, but for the Covid-19 certificate that her employer required from her. Four days after giving her samples for an RT-PCR test, she had not got the certificate.

“I had to meet the CMO otherwise my future would be in jeopardy,” she said. “Last seven to eight days have been so depressing for me as the anxiety while waiting for my test results was not less than killing me”. The CMO made a few quick calls and assured her that she would get it by Monday morning, which she did.

CMO Dr. Deepak Ohri said that there are four ICMR-approved laboratories in the district that tests for Covid-19. “While the labs in Child PGI and Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) are under the state government, the labs in National Institute of Biology (NIB) and National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) are under the domain of central government. While the state government labs also test the samples of other district, the central government labs are assigned for testing samples from other states also,” he said.

Normally the RT-PCR reports are available within 72 hours.The delay, he said, is because of the increased testing and further process of uploading the data onto the database before submitting it to the person. “The same labs, which used to test around 1,300 samples daily in May, are now testing over 2,500 samples a day in September,” Ohri said. “At present, we are taking samples of over 3,500 persons daily. We are planning to double it in coming month.”

District magistrate Suhas LY said he would ask the agencies to ensure they stick to the timelines.