Covid-19: Testing delays a big issue in Uttar Pradesh

Amid the record jump in new Covid-19 infections in Lucknow, testing for the disease in the city has been severely constrained with several private diagnostic laboratories not conducting tests or limiting their sample collection. Some pathology chains ET spoke with said they have been “disallowed”. Some others cited logistical bottlenecks for drastically reducing sample collection.

These constraints emerge even as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has called for scaling up RT-PCR tests to at least 1.5 lakh each day. However, the state is still conducting only 95,000-98,000 RT-PCR tests every day.

On Friday, additional chief secretary for information Navneet Sehgal said the chief minister has said that if private laboratories refuse to test despite having capacity, action will be taken against them.

Executives working at collection centres of prominent diagnostic chains Dr Lal Path-Labs and SRL Diagnostics said they have not been collecting samples for Covid-19 testing for close to 10 days now because they have orders from the administration to not test.

Others like RML Mehrotra Pathology said they have stopped sample collection at their centres and are only testing samples collected from the hospitals due to logistical constraints. Nivaran Pathology and Diagnostics said it was collecting samples between 7 am and 2 pm only. Health City and Trauma Centre said it has stopped testing samples for the public for a week and is testing those already under treatment in the hospital, if they have to undergo a surgery.

Health minister Jai Pratap Singh had told ET that while SRL, with its facility in Gurgaon, was sending reports after 72 hours, which is why it was asked to instead build or partner with a lab locally.