Team Herald
MARGAO: Although the government has permitted private lab COVID tests, it can be quite a harrowing experience for people visiting them as there is no uniformity in the rates and to add to their woes, the reports are submitted after a long gap.
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A young engineer from Margao visited the South Goa District Hospital for a test but failed to get the number on account of the massive crowd that had already registered for the test. Left with no option, he visited a private laboratory at Navelim for the test on April 28, 2021.
He was informed that he had tested positive at the laboratory and was even shown the result after undergoing the rapid antigen test.
However, he was told that the official report would be submitted the next day. However, the report was not submitted the following day and each time the patient contacted the laboratory he was told the report will be submitted the next day.
On May 1, the laboratory staff stopped answering the engineer’s calls and upset with such behaviour, the patient’s father rushed to the laboratory and it was only after he created a scene, the report was handed over to him.
The staff at the laboratory said, “The Indian Council of Medical Research was delaying in sending the report. Initially, they said there was a mistake as though positive, the official report sent showed the patient to be negative for COVID.
“We had to ask them to correct the report and they delayed in making the correction and in sending the new report,” she said when asked why there was a four-day delay in submitting the report.
Meanwhile, the private laboratories do not have a uniform rate for the test as this particular laboratory for example charged Rs 800 for the test but some other labs charge more.
