‘Tests on asymptomatic patients vital’

All forms of pre-confirmatory tests and pool testing have to be put to use, say doctors

Doctors who are treating COVID-19 patients in government hospitals have expressed their reservations against the decision to not test asymptomatic secondary contacts.

As experts across the world, including India, are predicting a second wave of infection, doctors stressed that all forms of pre-confirmatory tests and pool testing also have to be put to use to know the extent of spread of coronavirus.

Instructions were issued to district collectors and health officials, more than a week ago, not to test asymptomatic secondary contacts. It was decided that they would be placed under home quarantine for 28 days and their condition to be monitored.

“There are at least over 100 COVID-19 patients at Gandhi Hospital who are asymptomatic, which is a modest number. Some of them are secondary contacts. Rather than placing them under home quarantine, proactive testing will help in early detection of cases. Delays will only increase the chances for the virus to spread and that could lead to more cases in the coming days,” said a government doctor, who attends to COVID-19 patients, on condition of anonymity.

The doctor questioned the logic that sufficient swab samples cannot be collected if a person do not have symptoms. “If that is the case, then how were samples collected from all asymptomatic patients at the hospital who tested positive?,” the doctor questioned.

Three days ago, Health Minister Eatala Rajender justified the number of tests conducted here, stating that accuracy of tests conducted in the State is higher than the national average. He cited guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on April 17 to buttress why only symptomatic contacts were tested.

Officials earlier said that they were judicious about use of testing kits as cases might rise in the coming days. However, a few doctors did not completely agree with this.

“Pre-confirmatory tests to detect nucleic acids is being used in Andhra Pradesh. Besides, pool testing can be used in which close to 10 samples can be tested at once. If the entire sample load is negative through RT-PCR test, it saves kits too. Each sample will be tested if the pool is positive. These methods help in testing more samples,” the doctor said.

Another doctor said that of the 19,278 samples tested in Telangana, only 1,016 tested positive. This means 96.8% samples tested negative. “Given the situation, why can’t we use pool testing. Only 10 tests have to be performed for 100 samples. This saves time and kits. Samples from asymptomatic suspects can be put to test too,” the doctor said.