Testing time for Covid testing staff at South dist hospital

MARGAO
As Covid cases showed a rising trend in the last few days, the staff manning the testing centre at the South Goa district hospital came under strain with swab collection and testing crossing almost 500 per day on average.

And, with the government set to introduce additional tests as announced by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, officials and staff at the hospital in private say it will only add to tight schedules.

In fact, there’s been no end to the serpentine queue of citizens outside the district hospital almost every day, waiting for their turn to undergo Covid tests. 

Over the last few days, citizens have been standing in the hot sun sans any pandal or shelter at the hospital. It was only on Monday that doctors said work of erecting the pandal has commenced after instructions from district authorities.

Doctors manning the testing laboratory claimed that they have been receiving persons right from Canacona and Ponda and even from North for testing. The situation has been further aggravated with the rise in cases, with officials saying that decentralisation would have gone a long way in mitigating their hardships.

“The South Goa district hospital lab is the only lab that conducts Covid tests from 8 am to 8 pm. There’s been non-stop work of swab collection and testing for the last several days,” remarked an official.