Seven people wearing face masks stood in front of a small window to get their names listed to undergo a rapid antigen test for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at a government-run clinic in south-east Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan.
At a walking distance from the Nizamuddin railway station and the inter-state bus terminus in Sarai Kale Khan, the centre has ramped up testing to perform up to 150 tests a day.
Apart from people visiting the centre to get tested – this includes not only the people from the neighbourhood but also people travelling from other states — staff at the clinic encourages all visitors, including companions of patients, to get tested.
As the number of Covid-19 cases rise in the city, the Delhi government is ramping up testing. As on Sunday, with 3,256 cases Delhi saw the highest single day increase in the number of new cases since June end. The number of daily tests has gone from an average of 15,719 tests a day in mid-August to 30,202 tests on average during the past week.
Among the people who got tested on Friday was a 42-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, who had accompanied her neighbour to get her baby immunised.
“I accompanied my friend who was coming here to get her baby immunised. The doctor asked us to get tested for corona and I turned out to be positive. I do not have any fever or cough. I haven't stepped out of my house in days. I don't know how I got the infection,” said the woman. After receiving her report, she was asked by the staff to call her husband and all three of her children to the clinic to get tested.
If there is a doubt about the result thrown up by a rapid antigen test , all government-run clinics where samples are collected also have the viral transport media and sample collection kit needed for performing a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test that's considered the most accurate method of diagnosing Covid-19.
“We are linked to GB Pant Polyclinic or the Nehru homeopathy hospital nearby where the samples can be tested. If we have a strong suspicion that a person has the infection and still tests negative, we collect an RT-PCR sample,” said a doctor on duty, requesting anonymity.
“We also have several DTC bus drivers who come to get tested from time to time. Each day, we get about 10-15 people who get tested for the want of a certificate for joining back at work or travelling. The number of tests goes up on the days that we do immunisation because we ask the family members who accompany the children to get tested,” said the doctor at the clinic quoted above.
The dispensary extends monetary incentives to accredited social health activists and Anganwadi workers for motivating people to get themselves tested.
Not enough people
Not all dispensaries have as many takers for testing as the clinic at Sarai Kale Khan. A dispensary in Garhi village, near Greater Kailash, conducts only about 70 to 80 tests a day. “We have the capacity, but almost everyone living around the dispensary has been tested, those who are willing to get tested anyway. It is very difficult to increase the testing further but we are trying,” said a lab technician working at the dispensary.
At Shahid Hemu Kalani school in Lajpat Nagar, the sample collection team has to wait till 5pm on some days to complete their target of a 100 tests a day. “The timing is actually till 2 o clock, but we do not leave till we have completed collecting all 100 samples. Yesterday, we were here till 5pm. Usually, it is the people from Lajpat Nagar, Jangpura, and Ashram. Most people come here after hearing announcements made by the district authorities, referred by the nearby MCD {Municipal Corporation of Delhi} hospital, or through word of mouth,” the doctor issuing the reports said, requesting anonymity.
The centre is only equipped to do rapid antigen tests. A guard sits at the gate with a sanitiser, directing people to a tent that has been set up with a few chairs outside the school building for those who come to get tested. They are called in one by one and taken to a classroom for sample collection.
Motivating people and addressing their concerns are some of the ways in which the government is trying to increase testing.
“We have a population of 50 to 60 lakh people in our district, we have done 1 or 2 lakh tests so far. So, it is not like we have covered the entire population. There are still people that we need to test and we have to motivate them,” said an official from north district., requesting anonymity
Another official, from east district, said, also on condition of anonymity: “The problem is that many people either do not know where the tests are happening or they are scared to come to the testing centre. The fear for most is that they have to wait for a long time and they might get exposed at the dispensary itself. To address these fears, we have started giving numbers to people and ask them to come to the centre only at the specified time. And, then their sample can be collected within 10 to 15 minutes. They do not have to wait.”
Camps and special drives
Apart from the 300 ‘fixed' centres, the government has also been carrying our special drives and holding camps to reach out to more people, especially the “special surveillance groups” such as migrant workers, auto-rickshaw drivers and vegetable vendors.
“For us, the passengers coming to the station are the special surveillance group and we keep going to the station and testing them from time to time, apart from those who come to the dispensary,” said the doctor from the Sarai Kale Khan dispensary. At a dispensary in Sriniwaspuri, where the testing facility is unavailable, people are referred to Okhla Mandi nearby for testing.
“A camp is held there every morning from 6 to 10 am. We refer those who come to us to get tested there,” said a nurse at the clinic.
A Delhi government spokesperson did not respond to text messages and calls requesting comment.
