Sample testing remains inconsistent in Indore

INDORE: Sample testing in the district has witnessed a flip-flop between May 4 and May 31.
Testing reported an increase from 5,188 in May 4-10 week to 8,249 in May 11-17. This fell to 4682 in May 18-24. Then it rose again to 7,595 in May 25-31 week – still lower that the highest testing carried out in the month.
Indore divisional commissioner Akash Tripathi said, “Testing is not an issue, as far as labs are concerned.We are consistently testing over 1,000 samples daily. We have even tested 1,400 samples in a day.”
“We test as many samples received as possible. The sampling team is under collector and CMHO and this team is sometimes collecting 400 samples a day, and very next day it increases to 1,600,” he said.
The samples are collected in accordance to nine-point guidelines of ICMR. “But the CMHO or collector could better answer this question of inconsistency in sample collection,” added Tripathi.
CMHO MP Sharma said, “I can’t comment on what happened in April or May because I have taken charge three-four days back and am unaware of the reason. But, now we are increasing the sample collection from this week to observe the impact of relaxation in lockdown in non-containment zones of the city.”
In first three days of June, there were 3,069 samples tested. Team collected 4,711 samples during this period.
Dr Amit Malakar, in charge of district sampling team said there were two issues last month leading to problem in sample collection –- availability of Viral Transport Media (VTM) kit for sample collection and efficiency of collection team.
“The issue of VTM kits for collection persisted during most of the month in May, which was resolved now as medical college and regional director office were supplying it,” said Malakar.
“When we expanded the sampling team, initially the efficiency of the teams remained low. Only 11 teams were collecting samples for two weeks in May. Now we have 23,” he said.