A testing time for Mumbai’s private labs

A swab sample being collected at LTT, Kurla, on Thursday. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The state Covid task force may have recommended about 1 lakh tests a day in Mumbai amid the raging third wave, but it's becoming an uphill task for the city's private laboratories to handle the sudden surge in samples. Though it's binding on the labs to give the report in 24 hours, many of them have been warning people of a waiting time of up to 48 hours. Overburdened with calls for tests, private laboratories have now started giving preferences to serious patients and people flying abroad.

"We suddenly have to deal with much larger volumes of calls, collections, testing, etc. without no time to get ready. All healthcare institutions try their best to meet expectations, but sometimes there can be delays till teams get ready. The government understands this. From Metropolis, we are doing our best to take utmost care of patients and comply with the rules and regulations laid by the government," said Ameera Shah, promoter and MD, Metropolis Healthcare. A ward-level medical officer said a few citizens call them to complain about not getting the results within 24 hours - between swab collection and release of the report. He said negative reports may come early as the labs do not need to inform the BMC before sending it to the individual.

Borivli resident Snehal Kulkarni, whose brother is scheduled to fly for Australia in the weekend, is one of the many Mumbaikars who are struggling to schedule an appointment for a test. "An RT-PCR test is mandatory and I am facing a tough time to get an appointment for the test. I have tried three leading diagnostic centres. While getting through the call centres to book an appointment has been tough, all of them said it will take 48 hours for them to send the report," she said.

Pranita Tipre, an officer with the BMC's public health department and in charge of testing, agreed that they have been receiving complaints about private laboratories taking more than 24 hours to send RT-PCR reports. "Currently, no lab has been taking more swabs samples than their capacity listed with the BMC. But if we get complaints that results are taking more than the prescribed time of 24 hours, then we will take action against them," she said. Another ward level medical officer said the combined capacity of private as well as civic labs is around 1 lakh RT-PCR tests a day. "Many labs are not able to function to their optimum limit due to reasons like staff crunch as many are reporting positive," they said.

Dr Avinash Phadke, president of SRL Phadke Labs, said they have automated data entry to manage the load. "We have taken almost 50 per cent more manpower related to Covid-19 sample processing and are ensuring our staff has adequate rest for the next day. We have been using chatbots to efficiently respond to all the patient queries at the earliest," he said.

Metropolis said they have set up a dedicated Covid-19 team to ensure that the reports are sent with the defined timelines. "Starting from hiring additional workforce, making existing teams work much more, stocking extra inventory, buying more equipment, etc, and all this within a very stringent price cap. Healthcare institutions like ours are going over and beyond to take care of patients and support in this crisis," said Shah.