AIZAWL, May 10 - Declaration of all district hospitals in Mizoram as COVID-19 sample collection centres by the State Government has left the doctors working there worried.
According to the doctors, it is unsafe to collect throat swab samples at civil hospitals for COVID-19 test.
The State Government has recently notified that civil hospitals in all 11 districts of Mizoram will be collection centres for nasopharyngeal swab. With this, there are now 12 collection centres, including the Zoram Medical College (ZMC) at Falkawn in Aizawl.
Only ZMC has been designated as a COVID-19 hospital. A senior doctor of Aizawl Civil Hospital said it is very risky to collect sample of a suspected COVID-19 patient in a civil hospital as it could put many other patients at risk.
�People with different types of illnesses come to the civil hospitals. If a suspected COVID-19 patient comes here to give his sample and subsequently tests positive, the entire hospital would be exposed to risk. Normally, it takes at least two days to get test result. The damage could be done in these two days,� a senior doctor, who chose to remain anonymous, said.
He said all the doctors and nurses want civil hospitals to remain coronavirus-free and that collection of samples be done only at the ZMC, which is a designated hospital.
The State Government has made it mandatory for people who have returned from outside the State and having COVID-19 symptoms to give their samples at their respective district civil hospitals for testing. It has not gone down well with many doctors.
The doctors said they have spoken to the Director, Hospital and Medical Education, about the risks involved in designating civil hospitals as sample collection centres and the State Government�s response is awaited.
