Despite Government order, private labs in Lucknow (U.P.) stop Covid-19 testing!

If testing is not conducted, how can patients be traced? If they are not found, how can treatment be provided? If no treatment is given, people will die. The government ought to undertake stringent remedial measures!

Lucknow (UP) – The number of Cvoid-19 patients in Uttar Pradesh is increasing rapidly. Considering the huge workload on government labs, private labs have been granted permission to conduct Covid-19 testing. However several labs in Lucknow city have stopped Covid-19 testing according to a news report by ‘Navbharat Times’.

1. Since Covid-19 testing facility is not available in private labs, long queues are visible in front of government hospitals for testing. Due to the increased work pressure, the campaign of collecting samples from homes has been stopped by the Health Department. Therefore several aged, sick people, and pregnant women have to face great difficulties in getting tested for Covid. Furthermore, many people are also dying due to lack of timely testing and treatment.
2. According to the State Administration, the cost of RT-PCR test has been fixed at Rs. 900. But several private labs are complaining that this rate is very low. They claim that due to the Covid-19 pandemic people are refusing to work. Hence they have to be paid higher wages.
3. The Chief Minister’s Office does not even have a list or information regarding the number of private labs which are conducting and which are not conducting Covid-19 testing in the city. ‘Navbharat Times’ attempted to contact private labs directly, but all responded saying ‘we have stopped covid testing’.