New Delhi: From multiple data-entry portals to risky Covid sample-collection — private laboratories in the national capital have highlighted several issues they are facing before the Delhi High Court.
The concerns were highlighted in affidavits submitted by 12 out of the 23 private labs before the court over the past week.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Rakesh Malhotra on the status of Covid-19 testing facilities in Delhi.
During the last hearing on 11 June, the bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad had asked the private labs to inform it of any difficulties they were facing “on account of bureaucratic red-tapism”.
The labs have flagged the issues of having to upload patients’ registration forms on 4 different platforms — the RT-PCR app, the Covid app, the ICMR portal and the Integrated Disease Surveillance portal.
This, they said, requires engaging several data-entry operators so that the information can be provided to multiple government agencies on a daily basis.
They have, therefore, suggested the process of furnishing data be simplified and a single agency be designated for all private laboratories to furnish information.
The labs also pointed out the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) is insisting on re-accreditation for undertaking Covid-19 tests. This, they said, shouldn’t be necessary when the focus should be on conducting maximum tests.
The court has asked the expert committee constituted by Delhi’s lieutenant governor to advise the Delhi Disaster Management Authority to look into these issues. It has sought a response from NABL as well. The case will next be heard on 22 June.
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Authorisation requirement for phlebotomists
In their affidavits, the labs also raised concerns about phlebotomists (technicians who draw blood samples from patients or blood donors and prepare those specimens for medical testing) being asked to go on site to collect Covid samples and define patient categories, even though they are not trained or equipped for this.
The process, they asserted, exposes them to a risk of contracting the virus, despite them wearing protection gear.
The requirement to get phlebotomists registered with the district magistrate or district commissioner in order to be authorised for collecting samples has also been pointed out. The labs have submitted that this hinders the sample-collection process, reducing the number of phlebotomists actually available for the task.
The labs further told the high court that the forms that these phlebotomists need to fill out for patients do not include symptoms such as loss of smell and taste.
Increase testing kits, allow temporary testing
The labs have submitted suggestions to the court as well.
They have demanded that the Delhi government could notify the available locations for setting up temporary testing facilities. This, it said, would allow them to save the time spent in sending phlebotomists to people’s houses.
Another suggestion was the Delhi government should increase the number of testing kit vendors in proportion to the tests that it intends to conduct.
They also demanded an agreement where they are not asked to pay 100 per cent amount to the vendors upfront.
“It is submitted that Delhi government be requested to have an interface with the vendors who sell the testing kits approved by the ICMR for the Covid-19 test so that upfront 100 per cent payment is not demanded and a reasonable time given to the private laboratories to make the payment as a large number of testing kits are required to be procured to cater to the current need of the ramping up of the testing,” the court order noted.
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