In a shocking case of medical negligence, as many as 35 people in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, were forced to spend three days with COVID-19 patients. These people spend 72 hours in a hospital’s ward designated for coronavirus positive patients after private labs in the district botched up the test, NDTV reported. The labs were not registered with the Indian Council of Medical Research, the country’s nodal health body for the coronavirus.
Gautam Buddha Nagar district administration has now issued notices to these labs for the wrong diagnosis. One of them has been named in the First Information Report (FIR) by the police.
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According to reports, these people had consulted private doctors and in the district after complaints of mild fever, cough, and other coronavirus symptoms. Based on the advice of the doctors, they went to various private labs to get themselves tested.
According to the lab reports, all 35 of them were tested positive and sent to government isolation facilities. But they were tested negative when their samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for another round of testing.
“Six labs have come under the scanner for the alleged lapses in Covid-19 tests,” Noida Chief Medical Officer Deepak Ori was quoted as saying in the report. All 35 people have been discharged but have been kept under medical supervision.
“Action would be taken based on how the labs responded to the notice. Some of these labs are not even authorised to carry out Covid-19 tests, but they were doing it for money.” the medical officer added.
These people allegedly paid prices as high as Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000 for a test.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus positive cases continues to rise in the Delhi-NCR region. The Supreme Court on Friday said that COVID-19 patients are being ‘treated worse than animals’ in the national capital as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise.
