Covid symptoms, prescription not enough, Kolkata residents face week’s wait or more for test

Some of Kolkata’s biggest hospitals have been handing out dates as far as three weeks after the onset of symptoms. Govt helplines seem to be of no help either.

Covid-19 testing underway in Kolkata | Representational image | ANI

Kolkata: A 46-year-old diabetes patient from north Kolkata was prescribed a Covid-19 test on 17 July after he started experiencing severe symptoms. The next few days saw him shuttle from one ICMR-certified laboratory to the next — he altogether approached eight facilities, government and private, but couldn’t get a test.

“I tried at least four private ICMR-approved laboratories in superspeciality hospitals and two government-run hospitals. When I could not manage any, I dialled the largest one at EM Bypass (Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, a major Kolkata thoroughfare) and got a slot for 29 July,” the patient told ThePrint. 

“I went to the state-owned R.G. Kar Hospital, where I found at least 60 people queued up,” he said, adding that he didn’t wait for his turn.

He finally approached a non-accredited lab working in coordination with certified facilities Tuesday. His test results came back Thursday. He was Covid-positive. 

A Barrackpore resident relayed a similar story, saying he had to wait five days after a prescription to get his 70-year-old father tested for Covid-19. It was only after he pulled some strings with a political contact that his father was tested. The result? A positive diagnosis.

Covid-19 testing in West Bengal capital Kolkata has deteriorated into a vortex of uncertainty, with patients struggling to find a slot, which translates into delayed treatment for those who eventually test positive, and also constitutes a clear transmission hazard.

As confirmed in an investigation by ThePrint, some of Kolkata’s biggest hospitals have been nonchalantly handing out dates as far as three weeks after the onset of symptoms. Government helplines meant to guide the public in the right direction seem to be of no help either — the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) control room remained unreachable through all of Wednesday.  

While experts said the situation warranted alarm, state health secretary N.S. Nigam stated he would look into the allegations even as he claimed the government has increased the testing capacity. 

A long wait

As of 21 July, West Bengal had tested 7,29,429 samples. According to the daily health bulletin, 13,064 samples were tested on 21 July alone. As of Tuesday, Bengal had a testing rate of 8,105 per million population. The positivity rate on the same date was 6.45 per cent, which means 6.45 of every 100 tests yield a positive diagnosis. 

The state has 54 ICMR-approved labs for Covid-19 testing. Guidelines issued by the Mamata Banerjee government mandate prescriptions for Covid-19 tests, even though the central government has advised that the provision may be done away with in the interest of early detection.

On Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government will increase the number of daily Covid-19 tests from 13,000 now to 25,000 by mid-August. However, as things stand, the scenario is bleak. 

ThePrint contacted at least four private and government laboratories Wednesday, but could not secure a quick test date.

Of the three ICMR-accredited laboratories in super-speciality private hospitals on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, the largest one, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, said it does not have any slot until the third week of August. 

The second, AMRI Hospital, which has three branches in the city, said the earliest they can arrange a test is next Tuesday (28 July). The third, the premier government-run Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, said they have a long queue of appointments and will not be able to offer a date before next week. 

Medica Super-speciality Hospital said an appointment might be arranged on or after 27 July, but only after checking once again with the facility Saturday. 

The government’s Covid-19 helpline could not offer information about testing laboratories, and asked this reporter to call the KMC control room. The KMC control room number remained unreachable the whole day.

Response from the hospitals 

Approached for comment about the long waiting time, the hospitals all expressed helplessness, saying they either didn’t have the requisite infrastructure or trained hands.

“Currently, across our three units in Kolkata — Dhakuria, Mukundapur, and Salt Lake — we are conducting tests for around 350 samples daily, which include repeat tests for admitted patients as well as for samples collected from OPD,” said an AMRI official. 

“The wait time is longer because a lot more people are getting tested. At most of our units, the turnaround time for providing results is 24 hours, although sometimes it goes up to 48 hours due to a rush at OPD, where more and more people are wanting to get tested.” 

At Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, a senior official said they “generally have an average wait time of a week”. 

“Caseload is very high and hundreds of people want to get tested everyday. We have a certain capacity, and can do around 200 tests per day. The RT-PCR machine (the Covid-19 test considered most reliable as of now) takes a certain number of samples once at a time and a certain time to show results,” the official added. “Kits are not a problem for us as of now. It is about machines and manpower.” 

Rana Udayan Lahiry, the joint managing director at Medica Super-specialty Hospitals, said it is ramping up its existing facilities. “This takes time due to the work involved in creating additional infrastructure and… for the procurement of the requisite equipment. Currently, 700-1,000 tests are being done per day and we are trying to accommodate appointments within 24-48 hours. The report delivery is being maintained between 24 and 36 hours.”

Calcutta Medical College superintendent Indranil Biswas said they “face a huge caseload everyday”. 

“We have indoor patients too. Cancer and other critical patients need to be tested on a priority basis before admission. Our hospital tests samples from Hooghly district too. Everyday, we get over 120 suspected cases in our fever clinics and OPDs,” he added. 

“The capacity of the RT-PCR machines and trained resources is limited. We need more RT-PCR set-ups and additional manpower. The government is working on it,” he added 

According to the health bulletin, AMRI Salt Lake has tested 2,524 samples since it was authorised to conduct tests on 1 May, and AMRI Dhakuria, 4,156 since 19 May. These labs use TrueNAT and CBNAAT technology for testing. 

Between 6 April and 21 July, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals tested 7,801 samples. It has an RT-PCR machine. Medica has tested 20,086 samples since 15 May. 

Since 8 May, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital has tested 9,291 samples.

A promise from state govt

Approached for comment, West Bengal Health Secretary N.S. Nigam reiterated the state government’s promise of boosting its testing capacity. “We have increased the testing capacity in the government and such complaints of slot issues will be looked into,” he said.  

According to a senior health official, the government will procure over a dozen RT-PCR machines to boost testing infrastructure soon. 

Experts, however, said the delay in testing may pose a serious threat. “This is a failure of the state’s health infrastructure. Delay in tests means denying treatment,” Nemai Bhattacharya, a former head of virology at the Kolkata-based School of Tropical Medicine, added. “We do not know how the virus will affect a particular person’s immune system. Nobody can track its progression and that is why early testing is needed.” 

“In fact, when the state government is admitting that there have been instances of community transmission, they should have reached localities for random testing. Lockdown is not a solution for this, ramping up testing facilities can only help,” he added.