Cuttack: At a time when the Odisha government is reiterating that COVID-19 can be controlled only by increasing number of tests, the real picture in this district has a different tale to tell. There has been an acute shortage of antigen kits to carry out tests in Cuttack district since Monday.
Officials of the Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer here had informed the VDRL Department of SCB Medical College and Hospital that it is running short of rapid antigen testing kits.
Fifty kits were provided Tuesday to the institute to manage the crisis. However, officials of the institute said that they require a minimum of 150 kits per day.
Close to 100 patients had registered for tests Tuesday itself, that too at the outdoor department. After 60 tests, the institute had no way but to send the other 40 patients back.
The institute received 50 kits from CDMO office Wednesday. For Thursday, as many as 93 patients were queuing up at the outdoor department. Hence after conducting tests on 50 persons, the institute had to conduct real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) tests of the remaining persons. The RT PCR test is more time consuming as compared to antigen test.
Officials at the cancer institute said that lack of testing kits is delaying the treatment of patients as without COVID-19 tests none are allowed inside.
This is not the case with Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer alone. SCB Medical College and Hospital is also facing the same problem. At the super specialty outdoor department, hundreds of patients faced problems Thursday due to the lack of antigen kits. These patients had come from different parts of Odisha to consult doctors belonging to the neurology and nephrology departments.
The available kits lasted for 20 tests only. As a result, the hospital authorities had to fall back on the alternative RT PCR test. As it is a time-consuming method, many patients were forced to stay back overnight in this city.
When contacted, authorities of Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer, SCBMCH and chief district medical officer (CDMO) admitted that there has been an acute shortage of antigen test kits.
CDMO Dr Satyabrata Chhootray said, “We have learnt that there are more than sufficient kits in Bhubaneswar whereas there is scarcity in Cuttack. However, we are hoping that the situation will improve soon.”
PNN