Gurugram: Show-Cause Notice to Private Labs for Incorrect COVID Data

The State Health Department has issued a show-cause notice to nine private labs, including four Delhi-based labs, for enlisting wrong and duplicate addresses of at least 43 COVID victims on the official ICMR portal.

The authorities have given 48 hours to the labs to justify their mistakes, failing which would call for legal action against them for not following the protocol provided by the government.

Elaborating on the gravity of the error, one of the health officials stated that these incorrect details could hamper the whole process of surveillance and contact tracing, which can lead to serious consequences.

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TOI reports that the nine labs that were served notices include:

• Pathkind
• SRL
• Max
• Dr Lal Pathlabs
• Modern Diagnostics
• Core Diagnostics
• Metropolis Healthcare
• Molecule Lab
• Apex Diagnostics

According to the health department, 43 people who had submitted their samples in private labs of the city couldn't be traced as their records are incomplete.

The officials confirmed that along with enlisting the wrong address, the labs were also conducting retests of the patients who have previously been detected as COVID positive, resulting in duplicity of data in nearly 8% to 10% of cases.

Hindustan Times reports that the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Virender Yadav, stated that as many as 43 patients who had been tested COVID positive were mentioned in the ICMR portal this week by the nine labs; however, many of them had wrong contact details mentioned, and this created problems in surveillance by the authorities.

After the initial investigation, the local police found that in most of these cases, the COVID victims who belonged to Delhi were enlisted as Gurugram residents.

Yadav added that the labs should be more careful while verifying the IDs submitted by people who visit the labs for the COVID-19 test. He further stated that the labs should note the proper address even if people are living in the city on a temporary basis, as incomplete details put unwanted pressure on the government machinery.

As far as the allegations of retesting are concerned, the CMO clarified that "It has been an ongoing activity that people who are already confirmed positive get themselves retested again after two days. Data shows that it leads to the duplicity of data in about 8-10% cases. More than that, it increases the chances of transmission to others around."

A similar incident also took place during the pandemic where the wrong addresses of COVID-19 patients were registered on the official website. On May 31st, the Directorate General Health Services (DGHS) Haryana had issued notices to 18 private labs of Delhi, approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), for taking samples of Haryana patients to conduct COVID tests in Delhi without informing the Haryana health department or consulting with them.

In June, the Haryana government submitted a letter to the Union Ministry mentioning the loopholes in the system of COVID testing in Delhi, which created problems for the Haryana government. Contract tracing is hampered, and the surveillance activities are also delayed due to the confusion regarding residency and mismatch on the ICMR portal, reports the daily.