Upul Rohana, President of the Sri Lanka Public Health Inspectors’ Association, says that the number of PCR tests performed daily in Sri Lanka has been reduced from 25,000 to 10,000.
According to health sources, PCR tests and immediate antibody tests have been suspended in several areas. Reducing these tests which use to diagnosis Covid infections has been resulted in a decreasing of the number of reported active cases.
However, it is no secret that Covid infections are currently being reported in all 25 districts. Against this backdrop, the suspension of PCR testing is a matter of great concern.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the Covid Administration Center, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva said in a televised discussion today (31) that this is not a reduction in the number of reported cases.
He pointed out that what has been done is to suspend the PCR testing process which is being carried out in an unnecessary manner and for example he pointed out that when several people in a factory are positive, it is not timely to perform PCR on the whole factory. That the tests are just piling up and they are misplaced.
The accumulation of PCR tests in medical laboratories and delays in reporting results have been criticized in the past. The laboratory unions requested that the laboratories be provided with the necessary facilities to expedite these test reports.
But instead of strengthening the laboratory service, the government has now reduced the PCR testing process. However, the Government Medical Officers’ Association had earlier stated that in order to identify the infected, PCR tests should be carried out and the current testing capacity should be increased.
But what is happening now is completely different. This can also be seen as an attempt to hide the number of reported patients.
Also, before the New Year, at the end of the second wave of Covid, the government had secretly stopped PCR testing and it should not be forgotten that today we are falling victim to this third wave as a result of this.
Shani