Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 26
As the number of COVID-19 cases and anxiety mounts in Nagaland, reports of mounting test backlog has also emerged.
The Nagaland state government has still to officially admit it, but, reports from department insiders point to an increasing backlog of tests, especially at the BSL-3 laboratory in Kohima. As on Sunday, as per one source, there were as many as a thousand samples in line for tests at the laboratory in Kohima.
Mounting daily suspected cases, together with, the BSL-2 laboratory at the CIHSR, Dimapur, running out of “reagents” or test kits have been attributed as the contributing factors for the accumulation of samples pending tests in Kohima.
According to one doctor, confirmatory test results of samples should return within 24 hours of dispatch. However, over the past two weeks, extension of the return time was being felt with the results of some samples taking as many as 3-4 days. This is being further compounded by the BSL-2 laboratory at the CIHSR restrained by a lack of “consumables.”
Widening time gap from dispatch to result arrival only makes the job tougher for the people working on the ground, said another doctor, on condition of anonymity.
As reported already by The Morung Express, beginning July 21, samples, for confirmatory tests, collected in Dimapur were being routed to Kohima. Around 50 test kits were reported to have been shipped to the BSL-2 laboratory in Dimapur on July 24. However, it could not be ascertained whether the laboratory could operate with the available kits.
Legislator and Spokesperson for COVID-19, Mmhonlumo Kikon, when queried on the reported backlog, replied that there was no such report officially, while recommending that it be “confirmed from the PD (Principal Director),” Department of Health & Family Welfare or the Commissioner & Secretary of the Department.
Meanwhile, the PD hardly responds to messages or takes calls from news persons.
