unrecognized test
Ludhiana: Private laboratories, nursing homes and small hospitals cannot declare a patient as dengue positive. The health department of Ludhiana has issued instructions to them to send samples of suspected patients to the civil hospital and only after re-testing a person will be declared positive.
The decision was taken after it came to the notice of health officials that some laboratories and nursing homes were using unrecognized tests. Ludhiana Chief Medical Officer SP Singh said, “Some small hospitals, nursing homes and private laboratories are conducting rapid antigen tests, which are not recognized by the health department for confirmation of dengue case. These tests were creating unnecessary panic. The department only approves ELISA test for this.
“All private laboratories, nursing homes and hospitals conducting antigen testing have been directed to send samples for re-testing to the civil hospital, after which the health department will declare a patient as dengue positive,” the CMO said.
The health official said major hospitals like Dayanand Medical College and Hospital and Christian Medical College and Hospital were conducting ELISA tests, so they were not required to send samples for re-testing.
19 cases registered
On Tuesday, 19 cases of dengue were reported in the district. Of these, 11 were from urban areas and eight from rural areas. With this, the total number of dengue cases in the district has gone up to 1,732 and the number of suspected cases to 4,383. Health officials said that so far 1,430 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported from urban areas and 302 from rural areas of the district.
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