LUMHS asked to resume Covid-19 testing

The reported loss of around 500 samples sent to Indus Hospital, Karachi, from Hyderabad to be tested for Covid-19 has prompted authorities to revisit their decision to make the switch. Just days after their initial decision, officials have approached the Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) to resume its testing for Hyderabad.

Initially reluctant, the laboratory at LUMHS - which has been conducting coronavirus tests for 23 of Sindh's districts, including Hyderabad - began accepting samples from Sunday once again.

"They sent us samples [on Saturday] but we didn't accept them. We told the health authorities that they may continue with the Indus Hospital," LUMHS pro-vice chancellor Prof Dr Ikram Ujjar, who is in charge of the laboratory, told The Express Tribune.

Ujjar said he was surprised that the authorities switched the labs without even informing him earlier this week. "Although we do want some of the burden to be shared by other labs, [conducting tests for] Hyderabad wasn't a problem for us."

The lab, which has been testing samples from Hyderabad since the virus emerged in Sindh in March, had been releasing reports for the district's samples within 24 hours without any charges.

Earlier this week, the health director general had transferred the testing of Hyderabad's samples from LUMHS to the Indus Hospital.

Former Hyderabad DHO Dr Lala Jaffar, who stepped down on Saturday, described the decision as a flawed one affecting Hyderabad's smooth testing practices. "They [the Indus Hospital] wasted around 500 samples sent from Hyderabad," he claimed.

The Indus Hospital, which began receiving the samples on Wednesday, reportedly tested 211 samples from Hyderabad on Thursday and only 23 on Friday. In the previous week, the LUMHS lab processed over 2,700 samples from Hyderabad.

While the health DG could not be contacted for comment, Hyderabad deputy commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro confirmed the development, adding that he was unaware why the labs had been changed yet again.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2020.