SHILLONG, April 28: High-risk contacts of COVID-19 patients have been running from pillar to post to get a confirmatory RT-PCR test done, putting a question mark on the aggressive testing and quarantine policy adopted to flatten the curve this time.
Three such contacts visited at least three hospitals on Wednesday to get their RT-PCR tests done.
“The Health department is doing its bit, but I feel there has to be proper testing if they want to control the spread of the virus,” said one of them at Shillong Civil Hospital, waiting to get her test done.
She said travelling from one hospital to another to get the test done was agonising.
She first visited Supercare Hospital first as her brother had done his RT-PCR there last week, but she was told they were not doing it anymore. She headed to Pasteur Institute, which advised her to go to Polo as they could not take any more samples.
“I headed to Dr H. Gordon Roberts Hospital instead after confirming the RT-PCR test but on reaching there I found they were not doing the test. Finally, I came to Shillong Civil Hospital,” she said.
She said she chose RT-PCR over the costlier CBNAAT and TrueNat because the state government has been advocating RT-PCR.
Another woman who came for testing after a seven-day quarantine said: “High-risks moving from one hospital to the other is totally absurd. Luckily, we have our own car. What about those who travel in a public vehicle and risk infecting others?”
Pointing out that the CBNAAT and TrueNat test rates are high, she said, “I would have happily gone for these also if only it did not cost so much. Besides, there is also confusion over which is the best of all the confirmatory tests.”
The government is charting Rs 250 for RAT and Rs 500 for RT-PCR at Shillong Civil Hospital and at the Umling entry point.
Bethany Hospital in the city is charging Rs 520 for RAT and Rs 1,750 for an RT-PCR test. Supercare Hospital is charging Rs 500 for RAT and the hospital does not conduct RT-PCR test for OPD patients.
Woodland Hospital does not conduct RT-PCR and CBNAAT tests but they charge Rs 550 for RAT and Rs 1,800 for TrueNat.
Nazareth Hospital charges Rs 250 for RAT and Rs 3,000 for CBNAAT. It does not conduct RT-PCR and TrueNat tests.
