When Hosur resident Pavithra’s 90-year-old grandmother developed cold and chest congestion and her family contacted a private clinic in Denkanikottai, they were advised to get a COVID-19 test done on her.
In the meantime, the family doctor said it was only a normal cold and she might need oxygen support for a brief time. Pavithra said the family struggled to find a private hospital that would take her grandmother for respiratory support without the test report.
She said her grandmother had to be wheeled into the government swab collection centre in Seetharam Nagar, where they were told the results would take three days to come.
With no private testing lab in the district, families of patients with other health issues were facing problems. “There are no standard operating procedures for private hospitals to deal with cases such as that of my grandmother,” said Pavithra.
When contacted, Deputy Director of Health V. Govindan said the standard protocol was “universal precaution just like for HIV patients”. All hospitals were required to exercise precautions on the assumption that every patient was a potential infected patient, but provide the same treatment irrespective of a COVID-19 test report considering the emergency, he said.
Joint Director of Health Services Paramasivan, in-charge of the functioning of both government and private hospitals in the district, said two meetings were held with the Indian Medical Association, Krishnagiri and Hosur, in which private hospitals were directed to provide treatment to patients without any demands.
All government hospitals and Primary Health Centres were ready to take patients and no private hospital could turn away a patient for want of COVID-19 negative certificate. The test could not be made a precursor to admission and treatment by hospitals, said Dr. Paramasivan. “Aggrieved public may contact me, and we will issue a memo to the hospitals,” he said.
On the time taken by the government labs in Krishnagiri GH and Hosur GH in declaring the results, Dr. Paramasivan said the test results were given in 24 hours unless there was a delay in transport. However, the COVID-19 patients The Hindu spoke to said they received the results in two to three days. “The doctors told us the test takes only eight hours, but they should run two confirmatory tests before declaring the results,” said Bharathi, an employee in a pharmaceutical unit, who had recovered from COVID-19.
Public may contact the Joint Director of Health Services on 9444982670.
