Health officials snubbed for delay in Corona test reports.

Byline: Asif Chaudhry

LAHORE -- The Punjab Home Department has admonished the provincial health authorities for, what it called, inordinate delay in generating Covid-19 test reports of the expats and others arriving from abroad, besides questioning the testing capacity of the province.

The department also sought action against the health department officials concerned for their 'failure' to address the issue of delayed reporting, causing a great deal of inconvenience and anxiety among the expats who were made to wait for days at quarantine centres 'without any reason'.

Particularly, the home department snubbed the Multan and Faisalabad health officials for 'wasting' more time in generating Covid-19 test reports than those of Rawalpindi and Lahore.

The department, however, declared the performance of Lahore's officials 'relatively better'.

It stated that the situation was much disturbing at the Nishtar Medical University/Hospital Multan with regard to preparation and issuance of the test reports of those arriving in the city from abroad. It strongly criticised the Nishtar Hospital, Multan, management for taking too much time in issuance of test reports, directing the authorities concerned for action against the officials responsible for the delay.

'The Covid-19 test reports taking 4-5 days after flight landing. Though Nishtar Hospital Multan test capacity is 200 per day, yet it takes 45 days to get Covid-19 reports after sampling', reads a letter written by the Punjab home department's Provincial Intelligence Centre (PIC) to the secretaries of both health department.

The PIC in its letter said the reports of the 400 international passengers were pending yet and they were forced to reside in the quarantine centres in Faisalabad in utter uncertainty regarding their health status.

Referring to the situation in Rawalpindi, the letter further pointed out that the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, was taking 48 hours in issuing results of Covid-19 test reports of the expats and others traveling to the country from abroad and quarantined there.

It also criticised the health authorities for not improving test capacity for the suspected Covid-19 patients in Rawalpindi, which was the second city after Lahore reporting the highest number of deaths and confirmed Covid-19 patients.

According to official figures, total 58 patients have died of Covid-19 in Rawalpindi, while 1,471 others tested positive.

The PIC...