Hyderabad : 12 labs found flouting Covid testing norms

Out of the 16 private laboratories that were inspected by state health authorities, 12 laboratories were found to be flouting prescribed norms of Covid-19 testing.

Amrita Didyala
  • Updated On Jun 28, 2020 at 06:09 AM IST
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<p>The four new private labs to receive Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) permission are at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Aster Medcity in Kochi, Dane Diagnostics Pvt Ltd at Palakkad and Medivision Scan & Diagnostic Research Centre in Kochi. </p>
The four new private labs to receive Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) permission are at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Aster Medcity in Kochi, Dane Diagnostics Pvt Ltd at Palakkad and Medivision Scan & Diagnostic Research Centre in Kochi.
Hyderabad: Out of the 16 private laboratories that were inspected by state health authorities, 12 laboratories were found to be flouting prescribed norms of Covid-19 testing. The 16 out of the 18 laboratories approved by ICMR) had begun Covid-19 tested less than a week ago. Two others did not start testing and were not inspected.

Three days back, the state health department started inspections of the laboratories, after getting complaints from citizens and on Friday, a report of the inspections was prepared by the four inspection teams.

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The teams, comprising of senior microbiologists and senior officers from state health department looked at aspects like infrastructure, human resources, infection control measures and other facilities including general hygiene. “Twelve of the laboratories were found to have major lapses on various counts, including not doing RT-PCR tests. Since they are not following due procedures, the veracity of the reports cannot be trusted. We are issuing notices to the 12 laboratories,” said a health official.

Among some of the findings, lack of safety measures like not wearing PPEs, non-availability of safety cabinets, unhygienic conditions and not following quality control and validation of tests were pointed out. Also, most of the staff was found to be untrained for conducting the RT-PCR tests.

“Some of the labs are conducting tests for walk-ins, advertising that samples will be collected from different places in the city while government guidelines very clearly state that only symptomatic cases and patients admitted in hospitals should be tested and they are also not following ICMR guidelines,” as per the findings of the report.

  • Published On Jun 28, 2020 at 06:07 AM IST
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