'Not right to do politics over COVID-19': Vardhan on AAP's allegation on RML Hospital

It is not right to do politics over the COVID-19 situation in Delhi as it weakens the fight against the disease, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday, a day after the AAP claimed that the Centre-run RML Hospital here was giving out "erroneous" coronavirus test results.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain should strengthen health services in the national capital instead of making "baseless" allegations on a distinguished institute like the RML Hospital and its testing lab for "cheap media publicity", Vardhan tweeted in Hindi.

Doing politics over the novel coronavirus induced situation will weaken India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Vardhan said on Twitter after chairing a meeting through video conference to review the preparedness for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus in Delhi.

According to sources, Jain had apparently raised the issue of wrong test results and delayed test reports by the RML Hospital during the meeting.

Vardhan also expressed concern over rising COVID-19 cases and low testing levels in many districts of the national capital.  

The AAP on Wednesday had claimed that the Centre-run RML Hospital was giving out erroneous COVID-19 test results and violating government norms of submitting the same within 48 hours. 

Addressing a press conference here, AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the Delhi government re-tested 30 samples from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital which were declared COVID-19 positive. 

He said 12 of these samples were found to be negative and the result of two samples was inconclusive. 

The RML Hospital, in a statement, said the dates of sampling were different and there was a gap of 7-14 days when resampling was done. It said quality checks are being done with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the results are concordant.  

The hospital also maintained that there was no backlog anymore and regular quality checks were being done. 

"We are doing quality checks with AIIMS and NCDC and the results are concordant. Our positivity is more as all hotspot cases, family clusters and high-risk contacts of lab confirmed cases are more in our screening centre. Also we do not have any backlog now. The problem existed earlier when adequate testing kits were not available," it said in a statement.  

AAP leader Raghav Chadha earlier alleged that there was an error of 45 per cent in RML's coronavirus testing.