Maharashtra set to ramp up testing, but not Mumbai

While the state government is set to increase testing capacity by another 1800 samples a day none of these will be in Mumbai despite the city reporting the highest number of cases in Maharashtra A lack of communication between the state and civic machinery seems to be the reason behind this as the state believes BMCs laboratories are not operating at their optimum capacityA lack of communication between the state and civic machinery seems to be the reason behind this as the state believes BMCs laboratories are not operating at their optimum capacity Civic officials however say they have been testing more than their capacity of 350 samples a dayAn official from the state health department said that while the laboratories at KEM and Kasturba Hospital should be able to test around 450 samples a day their output is lower The two laboratories have never operated to their full capacity While loading the machine they dont fill in the maximum number of samples due to which empty slots are wasted in that round of testing There are no plans of setting up additional labs in Mumbai said the official adding that despite several requests the BMC doesnt share all their data with the state health department For a couple of weeks now the tally of positive cases announced by the state health department and the BMC has not matchedResidents of Sewri slums being screened and tested after a suspected contact with a COVID19 positive patient in the area on Wednesday PicSuresh KarkeraTesting more than capacityThe BMC however has been struggling with the testing Even though the testing shouldnt take longer than three hours many ward officials said that they have to wait for a couple of days before they get the reports from Kasturba The laboratory at Kasturba is a regional centre and civic officials say that it has a capacity of testing 250 samples in a day while KEM hospital can test up to 100 samples a day and that both laboratories have been functioning 24 hours a day Dr Jayanthi Shastri the microbiologist handling the laboratory at Kasturba Hospital said Our capacity is 250 samples a day and we have been testing more than that On Monday we tested 292 samples and on Tuesday we tested 272 samplesLabs across stateGovernmentrun laboratories across the state currently have a capacity of testing 2400 samples a day and private laboratories can test another 1500 Sanjay Mukherjee Secretary of Medical Education and Drugs Department said Four more laboratories which can test 100 samples a day are being readied at Latur Chandrapur Yavatmal and Gadchiroli One lab at Nagpur with a capacity of 100 samples a day has been approved and will be opened this week In addition to that 13 universities in the state had submitted applications to set up laboratories with a capacity of 100 samples each with the ICMR With these Maharashtra will have the highest testing capacity in the country said MukherjeeSamples from outskirts add to loadApart from testing the samples from Mumbai until recently the Kasturba and KEM were also receiving samples from the outskirts including Navi Mumbai Thane Palghar among others since there are no laboratories there In order to streamline the process Dr T P Lahane who heads that Directorate of Medical Research issued a circular on April 4 stating that BMC would test samples from within the city while other neighbouring corporations would send their samples to JJ Hospital and Haffkine Laboratory State health department officials said that despite the demarcation of testing facilities Kasturba had sent around 120 samples to the laboratory at JJ Hospital on WednesdayGearing for 5700 tests a dayBased on current figures Maharashtra has the highest number of cases the thirdhighest mortality in the country and Mumbai has the highest number of deaths in the state Despite several calls and messages civic chief Praveen Pardeshi and additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani were unavailable for comment250Samples Kasturba lab can test in a day100Samples KEM lab can test in a day1500Samples pvt labs in state can test a day2400No of samples govtrun labs across state can currently test in a dayPatient dies at ShatabdiA 52yearold patient died during treatment at Shatabdi hospital on Wednesday morning following which around 10 family members of the deceased were sent to an isolation centreThe deceased was a resident of Kandivli East and was admitted a couple of days back The doctors had sent a swab from his throat for the COVID19 test and the report returned positiveHe was admitted in the COVID19 ward but passed away during the treatment on Wednesday said Medical Superintendent Parmod Nagarkar from Shatabdi hospital The hospital authority initially sent his body for the last rites to the Dhanukar Wadi cremation centre for burning but as the family objected and with the interference of several Muslim social workers and a politician the hospital had to finally allow to body to be buriedThe body was eventually taken to the Muslim cemetery situated on the Western express Highway at Goregaon EastNagarkar told midday According to guidelines issued by the government bodies of the COVID19 patients must be burned or buried in large grounds away from human habitation Samiullah KhanCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesMidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news