Need to make process of testing easier for public, says Chandigarh doctor

“In these times, many are reluctant to go to hospitals for testing, for fear of infection, long queues, waiting time. Many people don’t know that they require a prescription to get themselves tested," a senior doctor from GMCH-32 said.

In the last one week, the city has seen a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases, with the total tally of cases in the UT now 6987. PGIMER has 216 COVID-19 in the NHE as of Sunday and doctors say testing is the only tool to contain the spread of infection. While Panchkula has 19 centres to test its population, Chandigarh has only three — PGIMER, GMCH 32 and CSIR-IMTECH, Sector 39, all three of which are grappling with an increasing load.

In both Panchkula and Mohali, citizens, with or without symptoms, can walk in to get themselves tested, and don’t need a doctor’s prescription for the same. This decision has led to an increase in testing and also identification of cases that may be asymptomatic. The move has also eased the process for people, who don’t need to seek an appointment at first.

A senior doctor from GMCH-32, said, “In these times, many are reluctant to go to hospitals for testing, for fear of infection, long queues, waiting time. Many people don’t know that they require a prescription to get themselves tested. As a result, some go back and never get a test done, for they don’t want to go through the process. What’s more, the load on government hospitals is so much. If we had more testing centres across the city, it would be easier for the elderly and people from nearby areas to go to these sectors, and not depend on just the six sampling centres here.”

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The cumbersome process of getting a prescription, fear of getting tested and subsequent quarantine and also fear of losing business and social isolation are also some of the factors affecting testing, with not everyone equipped financially to go to private labs for tests.

Dr Vats from GMSH-16 feels that many patients don’t know the procedure of testing and feel it can be painful, long and complicated, with many not aware or informed about how the test will be conducted and how they will be treated. In this regard, dissemination of information, through social messages, advertisements, posters and going to colonies to make people aware of the benefits of testing, where these are available and how these would be conducted will go a long way in alleviating fears among the public, said the doctor.

“For sure, if people can walk in for a test without a prescription, many would opt to be tested and this will contain infection, with contact tracing also easier. We need to make the process of testing easier for common people,” added the doctor, when asked about how increasing sample centres will help.

A private practitioner stated that in this hour of crisis, with a spike in cases daily, the urgent need is to encourage and motivate people to be part of the process of containing the disease by following social norms and also getting tested. “The easier and more practical the Administration makes it for them, the better the results,” said the practitioner.

Reflecting on the requirement for more testing centres in the UT , Dr Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER, said the need is to explore who can do testing, for the process requires training and hand-holding , as reliability and precision are very important for testing.

New sites for Covid sample collection & testing

Chandigarh: As per the decision taken in a meeting chaired by Manoj Parida, Adviser to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, three sites have been offered to two private labs for Covid-19 sample collection and testing. SRL Diagnostics and Atulya Healthcare have been given permission to create pre-fabricated temporary structures on the sites for sampling and testing. The first site is the parking area (tank side) Leisure Valley, opposite Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh (SRL Diagnostics) and Parking site (Eiffel Tower side, Atulaya Healthcare). The second site is the parking area of Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Park, near Hotel Lalit, Chandigarh for both the labs. The third site is the parking area near New Lake, Sector 42, Chandigarh for both the labs.

The cost of the RT-PCR test is Rs 2,000 and the Rapid Antigen is Rs 1,200.

The government sampling centres in the UT are PGIMER, GMCH-32, GMSH-16, Civil Hospital 22, Civil Hospital 45, Civil Hospital Manimajra and testing centres in the UT are PGIMER, GMCH 32, CSIR-IMTECH, Sector 39. ENS