Even as Sindh boosts capacity, fewer get tested for Covid-19

Social stigma surrounding coronavirus leaves people wary of diagnosis, say health dept officials

KARACHI: There have been awareness drives, lockdowns and whatnot but trends show people are still wary of getting themselves tested for the coronavirus.

While the Sindh government claims to have boosted the testing capacity in the province to 18,000 tests per day, the number of tests conducted daily has hardly crossed the 6,000 to 7,000 mark in recent days.

On Thursday, a mere 6,458 tests were reported by the provincial chief minister, yielding 1,098 positive cases, even though past weeks had seen the number of tests conducted in a day soar past 13,000. With fewer tests, there has been a decline in the number of new infections detected too.

According to a top health department official, citizens are avoiding being tested despite the government increasing the testing capacity as "it [Covid-19] is still a social stigma."

Across Sindh, at least 20 facilities, with 15 in Karachi, are providing services for coronavirus testing and cumulatively have the capacity to conduct 18,000 tests per day.

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Among them, the Indus Hospital has the capacity to conduct 2,200 tests per day, Dr Ziauddin Hospital 500, Aga Khan University Hospital 1,200, Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital 300, Dow University of Health Sciences' Ojha campus 1,500, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation 200, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre 150, Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research 1,200, South City Hospital 200, Dr Essa Laboratory and Diagnostic Centre 100, Hashmanis Hospital, Children's Hospital Karachi and Liaquat National Hospital 200 each, Advanced Laboratories Pvt Ltd 300, Chughtai Lab 1,000, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Hyderabad 3,500, Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Sciences in Sehwan 100, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University Larkana 100, Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences 300 and Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College in Sukkur 200.

Despite each of these testing facilities having the capacity to conduct at least 100 tests daily, it has been noted that there are days when some among them receive just one sample from the health department for Covid-19 screening.

A health department official told The Express Tribune that the collective testing capacity of these facilities was enhanced keeping in view the persistent rise in the emergence of Covid-19 cases.

"It appeared that we would need to establish more testing facilities or increase the capacity of the existing ones," he said, observing that the step did little to help the situation with fewer tests being conducted now. "Unfortunately, it is not working out well," he remarked.

He further asserted that the perception that cases were now on the decline was false. "Apparently people are just not willing to get tested."