Kumudesh asks why govt. does not involve state labs in Covid testing at factories

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Garment factories had been hotbeds for the spread of COVID-19 and there was a need for government labs to conduct PCR tests in those places, President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) Ravi Kumudesh said yesterday.

Kumudesh said that ensuring  the functioning of those factories was important to the economy and that they were ready to establish testing centres in garment factory clusters and test workers inside the factory premises.

“After the first wave, the Health Ministry was not serious about PCR tests in garment factories. In mid-2020 we had 24 government labs ready to analyze samples, but the Ministry handed over the testing to private labs and there are questions as to whether Ministry officials got kickbacks,.”

The CMLS President charged that although thousands of tests were done by private labs in garment factories; the fact that there was a cluster in Brandix Minuwangoda was discovered only after one worker had sought treatment at a government hospital.

“Before a government hospital made this detection allegedly thousands of tests had been done at these factories by the private sector. Thousands of people had been affected but we only found that after government labs started testing. Even now we don’t know how many tests were done in these factories and what the reports show. When we ask for information, the private labs say they have destroyed the reports,”.”

Kumudesh added that some private hospitals were giving false positive PCR test reports to trick people into buying their quarantine and treatment packages. CMLS President said that a few days ago a pregnant woman had got a PCR test from a lab attached to a private hospital in Thalawathugoda, and it had turned positive. Thereafter, the hospital offered a quarantine and treatment package exceeding Rs. 300,000.  However, the woman sought a second opinion and was subjected to a PCR test at another lab.

“She tested negative. She got a third test done, and tested negative again. What if she had not tested again? She would have wasted a lot of money and would have been exposed to risk of contracting the disease,” Kumudesh said, adding that the government had created an environment for the private sector to fleece patients.

Despite a series of irregularities, he alleged that  the Health Ministry had done nothing to supervise private hospitals and labs.

The CMLS President added that the Health Ministry had also instructed garment factory owners that certain percentages of their workforce needed to be tested every day and since those tests were done by the private sector, factories had to bear large costs.

“We can conduct these tests. If the Health Ministry allows us, we can introduce a system where tests can be conducted and reports given from the factories themselves,” he said.