Underutilised govt. labs
Sri Lanka has earned notoriety for the underutilisation of its public assets. The full potential of its bus and train services has not been tapped, and there are many state-owned buildings which have remained vacant for years. Besides, most state ventures are underperforming due to mismanagement. Those who have governed the country for the last several decades, their lackeys appointed to top positions in the state sector and servile bureaucrats should take the blame for this sorry state of affairs. They don’t seem to change their ways, even during a national crisis.
The Health Ministry has said that as many as 1,400 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests were conducted on suspected Covid-19 cases, on Monday; it is the highest number of tests conducted in a single day, since the start of the coronavirus spread, here. This is certainly welcome news in that the success of the ongoing battle against the highly contagious virus hinges on the country’s ability to do mass testing. Had more tests been conducted, at the early stages of the spread of the virus, many more infections could have been detected and the transmission of Covid-19 curbed more effectively. Lockdowns and curfews have to be coupled with aggressive testing, if the virus is to be beaten decisively. South Korea has done so, brought the situation under control, and even conducted an election.
Health authorities deserve praise for their efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but they must be asked why they could not get more PCR tests done, previously, with the help of government labs. The country has enough state-owned laboratory facilities to conduct many more Covid-19 tests, on a daily basis, we are told.
The Sri Lanka Association of Government Medical Laboratory Technologists (SLAGMLT) told the media, the other day, that the Health Ministry had not cared to have the facilities in the state sector fully utilised to have more tests done. It said there were eight laboratories, capable of conducting PCR tests, at the Medical Research Institute, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the Colombo North Hospital and the state health institutions in Anuradhapura, Karapitiaya, Ratnapura and Maharagama. All those laboratories could be used 24 hours a day for testing, but only the one in Anuradhapura had received samples for testing, outside the normal working hours, the SLAGMLT said.
It is not possible that the Health Ministry was unaware of the availability of laboratory facilities, at institutions under its purview, for conducting more PCR tests, but, curiously, it sought assistance from some private hospitals to test suspected Covid-19 patients. What did it do so, having refused to grant permission for privately-owned labs to conduct PCR tests?
It is only natural that the Health Ministry’s decision to involve some private hospitals in Covid-19 testing has made its critics smell a rat. The SLAGMLT should be thanked for coming forward to inform the public of the underutilisation of the state medical laboratories and ratchet up pressure on the Health Ministry to get more tests done. Its efforts have apparently yielded the desired results.
Meanwhile, among the carriers of coronavirus are drug addicts, who don’t care two hoots about health guidelines, lockdowns and curfews. Some women were shown on television, a few weeks ago, pleading with the police to save them from their family members addicted to narcotics. The police have told this newspaper that they are keeping tabs on drug addicts’ movements. If so, those elements, who are a curse to their families and the general public, and transmit Covid-19, must be severely dealt with, according to the law. They must also be tested urgently because a drug addict has caused a very high number of infections.
Sri Lanka has earned notoriety for the underutilisation of its public assets. The full potential of its bus and train services has not been tapped, and there are many state-owned buildings which have remained vacant for years. Besides, most state ventures are underperforming due to mismanagement. Those who have governed the country for the last several decades, their lackeys appointed to top positions in the state sector and servile bureaucrats should take the blame for this sorry state of affairs. They don’t seem to change their ways, even during a national crisis.
The Health Ministry has said that as many as 1,400 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests were conducted on suspected Covid-19 cases, on Monday; it is the highest number of tests conducted in a single day, since the start of the coronavirus spread, here. This is certainly welcome news in that the success of the ongoing battle against the highly contagious virus hinges on the country’s ability to do mass testing. Had more tests been conducted, at the early stages of the spread of the virus, many more infections could have been detected and the transmission of Covid-19 curbed more effectively. Lockdowns and curfews have to be coupled with aggressive testing, if the virus is to be beaten decisively. South Korea has done so, brought the situation under control, and even conducted an election.
Health authorities deserve praise for their efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but they must be asked why they could not get more PCR tests done, previously, with the help of government labs. The country has enough state-owned laboratory facilities to conduct many more Covid-19 tests, on a daily basis, we are told.
The Sri Lanka Association of Government Medical Laboratory Technologists (SLAGMLT) told the media, the other day, that the Health Ministry had not cared to have the facilities in the state sector fully utilised to have more tests done. It said there were eight laboratories, capable of conducting PCR tests, at the Medical Research Institute, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the Colombo North Hospital and the state health institutions in Anuradhapura, Karapitiaya, Ratnapura and Maharagama. All those laboratories could be used 24 hours a day for testing, but only the one in Anuradhapura had received samples for testing, outside the normal working hours, the SLAGMLT said.
It is not possible that the Health Ministry was unaware of the availability of laboratory facilities, at institutions under its purview, for conducting more PCR tests, but, curiously, it sought assistance from some private hospitals to test suspected Covid-19 patients. What did it do so, having refused to grant permission for privately-owned labs to conduct PCR tests?
It is only natural that the Health Ministry’s decision to involve some private hospitals in Covid-19 testing has made its critics smell a rat. The SLAGMLT should be thanked for coming forward to inform the public of the underutilisation of the state medical laboratories and ratchet up pressure on the Health Ministry to get more tests done. Its efforts have apparently yielded the desired results.
Meanwhile, among the carriers of coronavirus are drug addicts, who don’t care two hoots about health guidelines, lockdowns and curfews. Some women were shown on television, a few weeks ago, pleading with the police to save them from their family members addicted to narcotics. The police have told this newspaper that they are keeping tabs on drug addicts’ movements. If so, those elements, who are a curse to their families and the general public, and transmit Covid-19, must be severely dealt with, according to the law. They must also be tested urgently because a drug addict has caused a very high number of infections.
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