RT-PCR facility at GMC Anantnag no less than Covid hotspot

RT-PCR facility at GMC Anantnag no less than Covid hotspot

Anantnag: The Flu Centre of the Microbiology department, here at Government Medical College (GMC) hospital Anantnag, might turn out to be yet another hotspot for Covid-19 given that everyday people coming for an RT-PCR test are made to wait for hours, until a crowd swells with no one following social distancing norms.
This is the same department which had gone on to enjoy a picnic recently, on a Monday, leaving the working of the department in the hands of two junior paramedics.
The department is at it again with utter negligence and callous attitude towards handling of the pandemic. The Flu Centre is entrusted with RT-PCR testing and everyday dozens of people throng the hospital to get this test done.
“People start pouring in at about 10:00 AM in the morning. But the employees at the Flu Centre, for reasons better known to them, do not start taking samples straight away,” Shafat Ahmad, a local who had gone for testing at the hospital, told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the employees at the Flu Centre make people wait until about noon and then start sampling.
“By the time they start sampling, a crowd has already swelled at the place. All positive and negative people are hobnobbing without following any social distancing protocols,” Nasir Hussain, another local, told Kashmir Reader. “By the time the testing is done, the negative ones carry the infection back home,” he said.
People said that the Flu Centre employees turn hostile if you try to reason with them to make them understand how they are contributing to the spread of the infection. “They are too arrogant to hear any argument,” is the common complaint.
Sources in the hospital confirmed this malpractice of the Flu Centre and expressed helplessness, saying that the overall working of the Microbiology department is in a shambles right now.
“In the present scenario, this department is the most important one, but when the entire staff can go on a picnic on a Monday, you can expect anything from them,” a doctor at the hospital said.
He said that the crowd at the Flu Centre gets bigger everyday and it is quite possible that people get infected at the centre while they come for testing.
“It is common sense. You make a crowd swell, among whom some are negative and some positive. You allow their assembly without social distancing norms being followed. The infection is bound to spread. This is no rocket science,” the doctor said.
Kashmir Reader tried talking to the head of the Microbiology Department, Dr Rubeena. She did not attend her phone, though. Principal of the GMC, Dr Showkat Jeelani, meanwhile said that he will look into the matter.
“Maybe it is because they have to register the tests on the ICMR website and wait for a code to be generated,” Jeelani said. When asked if it takes two hours to generate the ICMR code, Jeelani said that he would definitely look into the matter.

 

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