Lack of Covid testing kits hits village in Gujarat

The Primary Health Centre in Shapur village with a population of 10,000 tests only 20 persons a day for Covid-19 due to the non-availability of testing kits. People are returning after waiting in long queues while two to three deaths are reported daily in the village.

Junagadh: The super-spreading Covid-19 cases can only be curbed with proper testing and treatment. Data revealed from Primary Health Centres in Junagadh district poses an alarming state.

Here only 20 persons are being tested every day as the health department dispatches merely 20 testing kits on a daily basis. After waiting for a long time in queues, a large number of people in the village return without getting tested.

It should also be noted that the village comprises a population of 10,000 and the fact that twenty persons are being tested is a matter of grave concern. Leaders of Shapur village have raised the demand to ramp up testing.

A medical staff of the PHC said that despite raising the demand for at least 100 kits daily, they are only provided with 20 kits. Two or three people are succumbing to Covid-19 every day and cases have witnessed a spike, said the staff.

Shapur district panchayat member Mukesh Kansagara, who visited the Shapur primary health centre, said that top officials of health department intend to destroy the PHC. Covid-19 is spreading fast in the village and people are coming forward on their own for the test but go back disappointed as they do not get tested because of the paucity of kits. This can lead to catastrophe. He said he would be compelled to lead a non-violent agitation against the criminal apathy of the health department, he said.

There are three primary health centres in Vanthali taluk - Shapur, Thana, Pipli. Twenty to thirty kits are only provided to all these centres as well. The three primary health centres cover a population of 20,000 to 25,000. The proportion of testing to the population depicts a picture of crisis.