Covid testing at Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) has been adversely affected because of a strike by health workers launched on Tuesday, even though the local administration made fresh appointments to ensure more and mor people could be tested.
As many as 82 lab technicians and six data entry operators were appointed by the district administration to speed up swab tests. But the timing of the strike upset all plans.
“The testing might have been accelerated following the appointment of lab technicians but more than the number of those who joined work went on strike,” rued PMCH principal Shailendra Kumar.
“We are currently carrying out 600-700 tests per day, which is slightly more than the 500-600 samples we were testing. We expect the situation to improve after those who are on strike join work,” he told The Telegraph Online.
Besides samples from Dhanbad, PMCH lab also tests samples coming from several adjoining districts, namely, Giridih, Koderma, Chatra, Deogarh, Dumka, Godda, Sahebganj, Pakur, and Jamtara.
Ever since he joined office on July 15, Dhanbad deputy commissioner Uma Shankar Singh has focussed on accelerating Covid testing. He inspected the PMCH microbiology lab on July 19 and spoke to the staff there, after which he decided to add manpower.
Two microbiologists, namely, PMCH biometrics head of the department Sunil Verma and microbiology head of the department B.C. Banerjee, were deputed at the PMCH microbiology lab on July 28 to step up Covid testing.
Apart from them, 92 others, including 86 lab technicians and six data entry operators, were appointed on August 2 across the district. While 17 lab technicians were deputed at PMCH to work with TrueNat machines, 35 were posted at Dhanbad Sadar Hospital to work on both RTPCR and TrueNat machines, in addition to six data entry operators for compiling reports.
The district administration has also constituted block-level mobile teams to collect swab samples. For Dhanbad block, two teams of six persons each have been set up. Baghmara, Jharia and Baliapur have been assigned one team of four technicians each, while Govindpur, Topchanchi, Tundi, Purbi Tundi, Egyarkund, Kalisol and Nirsa have been assigned one team of two technicians each.
