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New ICMR guidelines will reduce pressure on testing labs, says Pune district collector
Maharashtra state health commissioner Dr Archana Patil has instructed all municipal corporations and district hospitals to follow ICMR guidelines.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on May 18, issued new guidelines updating its strategy for Covid-19 tests as the number of infected people crossed 90,000-mark in the country.
The revised strategy proposes all symptomatic contacts of laboratory confirmed cases and healthcare workers to be tested. All symptomatic patients with Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and patients who develop ILI symptoms should also be tested.
Maharashtra state health commissioner Dr Archana Patil instructed all municipal corporations and district hospitals to follow the ICMR guidelines.
Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram said that the new guidelines will help streamline the testing process and reduce the pressure of testing labs. “We have received the new guidelines from the state health department. We have forwarded it to our district hospitals and health officials. From now onwards testing will be done only according to the given guidelines and it will certainly reduce the pressure on the testing labs,” he said.
According to officials of the health department, it was found that swabs of persons travelling from one district to another were sent for testing. This increased the number of tests and put pressure on the labs. This unnecessary testing was delaying the reports of high-risk patients. So to streamline this process all the testing labs, district hospitals treating Covid patients are been given proper instructions for testing.
As of May 20, 35,302 testing have been done in Pune city, out of which 3,899 persons have been tested positive. While 221 people have lost their lives due to Covid-19, 2,023 persons have been completely recovered and discharged from the hospitals.
