Getting tested in Noida & Ghaziabad becoming a nightmare for residents
Noida:As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Noida and Ghaziabad districts, people are facing major issues with getting themselves tested as most private labs have either been blacklisted or have not been allowed to test samples and one needs to have a prescription from a doctor to get tested.
In Gautam Buddh Nagar district, some private labs including ICMR-approved - Dr Lal Pathlab and SRL lab have been allowed to conduct COVID-19 tests while eight government collection centres in total have been readied to take samples for testing. However, the long wait for taking samples and delivering test results is creating a significant backlog.
The testing procedure has also proved to be nightmare for a young married couple in Palm Olympia society in Greater Noida West as they had to make numerous calls and wait for more than four days to get themselves tested after a resident of nearby apartment had tested positive.
"As my family was in contact with the neighbour for nearly two days before he tested positive. We were under a fear and wanted to get tested. My wife was showing mild symptoms so I chose to inform the health department through the district helpline number. For four days, I made more than 50 calls but no one came for help. Finally, we contacted a doctor at a private hospital who prescribed us and we got tested at a private lab," said a 34-year-old resident while adding that their reports are still awaited.
As per testing guidelines issued by district administration, the selection of person to be tested for COVID-19 is decided by ICMR testing strategy. "All primary/high risk contacts and such persons who are showing symptoms of Influenza, and other samples are tested through COVID-19 labs. We have dedicated a special team of doctors who will ascertain the requirement and get the testing schedule as per protocol. If any persons experiences symptom, he must dial 18004192211 and press option 1 to register requirements. The doctors will call and give date and time of sampling," said Dr. Sunil Dohare, the district surveillance officer.
The officer added that from Friday, a total of eight government collection centers are available in the district which are housed at a district hospital in Sector 30 of Noida, new hospital building in Sector 39, GIMS hospital, primary healthcare Centres in Bisrakh, Dankaur and a community health care centre in Jewar and Banghel.
And while authorities in Ghaziabad are forthcoming with data on samples collected and tested, the district administration in Gautam Buddh Nagar has not be sharing the number of samples collected and tested for the last 20 days.
