Telangana finally allows private labs to test for COVID-19 as positivity rate soars to 20%

In a major reprieve for Telangana, CM K Chandrashekhara Rao, on Sunday has allowed private hospitals to test for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the coming week, after reviewing the state's COVID-19 response. Moreover, the Chief Minister has reportedly directed that 50,000 people must be tested in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Medchal and Sangareddy districts. The state has reported 4737 cases and 182 deaths till date.

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Telangana CM expands testing

KCR has also said that the government will decide on the guidelines and charges for pvt hospitals to test COVID-19 patients. Recently junior doctors in the state had held protests against the attack on a doctor by kin of a deceased COVID-19 patient and demanded decentralisation of coronavirus patients' treatment, adequate PPEs. They have resumed duties since Friday, after health minister E Rajender's assured to address their grievances.

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Telangana's testing worries

As of date, Telangana has only tested 23,388 samples in its six government testing labs, as per covid19tracker. In comparison, its neighbour Andhra Pradesh has tested 5,36,570 samples till date. Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have over 4000 cases testing positive - Telangana has 4737 cases, while Andhra has 5965 cases. On one hand, due to Andhra Pradesh's massive testing, its test positivity rate  — the ratio of positive diagnosis to the number of tests conducted — is at 1.11%, while Telangana's positivity rate is at 20.25%, which is four times higher than India's positivity rate (5.67%).

On May 17, the Centre had pulled up Telangana for testing the lowest, while having a higher positivity rate than the national average. In a letter written by Union health secretary Preeti Sudan, the Centre had pointed out that Telangana accounted to only 1.5% or 20,754 tests of the total 14 lakh tests conducted at by the nation. The state has only six government labs - five in Hyderabad and one in Secunderabad, as per the state government's website.

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Subsequently, on May 22, the Telangana High Court directed the Telangana government to allow authorised private labs to conduct Covid-19 tests and private hospitals to commence treatment, as per reports. A high court bench comprising of Justices M S Ramachandra Rao and K Lakshman has slammed the KCR government for insisting that patients test only in government labs and seek treatment in government hospitals only. But the state ruled out involving private labs and hospitals, defending its testing mechanism saying it followed ICMR guidelines.

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