Even as the health-care facilties are under severe strain in Delhi and its adjoining areas owing to the burgeoning number of Covid-19 cases, people with symptoms of the virus are struggling to get RT-PCR test done. Laboratories designated for the tests are unable to collect samples from homes due to the shortage of staff.

Many laboratories in Delhi and NCR are struggling to cope with the skelton staff. An estimated 50 per cent of the staff working with different labs in the national Capital have themselves tested positive, forcing the management to deploy backend staff to meet the demand at collection centre. But, many of these labs are unable to keep pace with the testing demands.

Managers at various labs said they have been receiving desperate calls from people to collect samples, but unfortunately it has become impossible to even respond to all the calls and and collect samples from home in due to staff crunch.

Moreover, test results are getting delayed, much beyond 2 days. Holy Family Hospital in South Delhi has informed the sample givers that they will get reports after three days. Some hospitals have put a cap on number of patients to be tested everyday.

Dr Gauri Agarwal, founder-director of Genestrings Diagnostic Centre, Malviya Nagar, said the lab receives a large number of calls but we are able to collect less than 200 samples from home daily.

“Most of the staff, including data entry operators, technicians, collection agents and even doctors have tested positive. We are overburdened and my team has not slept for five days. We are trying everything to meet demand,” she said.

Abhishek Sharma, a 32-year-old student in Laxmi Nagar, said he developed symptoms of Covid-19 three days back and called for sample collection but none turned up.     

"My roommates ran away after noticing symptoms. I called helpline numbers of labs one after another but some were busy and some refused to come at home. Many of them cited staff shortage and asked to come at center. I did not go anywhere and took precaution. I am doing fine," he said.

Dr Rajan Verma Medical Director Oncquest Laboratories Ltd, said, "We have been receiving 2,000 booking calls daily. We realise the sensitive nature of the situation and are doing our best to book the tests for all the calls. Despite being overloaded with test bookings, our team is working tirelessly to ensure that the results are delivered timely (i.e. within 24 hours)."

Dr Verma said home collections request have multiplied in the last one week and due to limited slots available we are shifting requests to the next day.

However, he said the labs are facing a plethora of challenges at this point. "Besides being overburdened and stretched, we have to also deal with the fact that we can contact Covid-19 anytime while testing patients," he said.

Jitendra Sharma of Dr Lal Path Labs agreed that samples are being collected in less quantity but did not cite any reason for it. Sharma avoided to comment why tests are conducted in less quantity. He did not even commented if the staff is tested positive.

"The system of laboratories is deteriorating day by day and it has become hard to meet with demand. Cases are multiplying everyday and hence the demand for tests is also getting faster. We used to do 500 to 600 tests earlier but now it is reduced to less than 300. We have stopped collecting samples from home also due to shortage of staff. Our 70 per cent staff has tested positive and some of them are in home isolation," said a representative of a private lab situated in Noida.

Similarly, Sneha Bansal, a resident of Modal Town frantically called each and every laboratories to get RT PCR tests done for her father who developed fever and body ache but disappointed.

"I started treatment consulting my doctor without tests done. Fortunately he is doing fine now," she said.

Social media have also been flooded with people complaining and asking help for getting tests done for themselves and for their loved one especially older ones. Many of them keep posting SOS messages in WhatsApp groups, Facebook and Twitter but with no hope as only a few of these labs are collecting samples that too in limited quantities and areas.

Delhi reported 24, 638 cases on Thursday while the positivity rate 38.28 per cent.