Jaipur| In tough times for the country, everything seems to be going the wrong way since the time India got its first case of corona virus. From the time, the case was discovered, the events – failing tests, lockdown problems, Jamaat, exodus workers problems, people caught at different places in the country, incidents at Surat and Badra, lack of PPE kits, all are creating problems for the people and the government.
While the problems persist, there had been allegations from different countries and organisations, including WHO regarding the low number of testing, the governments in various states have been trying to cover it up anyhow or to increase the pace of testing.
While the testing has been a cause of concern, now the Rajasthan health minister has raised questions over the accuracy of the test kits supplied by ICMR. As per him, the test kits are failing the standards and are showing mere 5% accuracy while testing.
We'd received rapid testing kits from ICMR&it was used in Rajasthan. We formed a committee of the Head of our Microbiology Dept & Head of our Medicine Dept to see if these tests are effective. Its accuracy was supposed to be 90% but it turned out to be 5.4%: Rajasthan Health Min pic.twitter.com/mq36rw0ER6
— ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2020
If the allegations are to be believed that means, out of 100 positive cases tested, there is just a possibility of 5 people whose results will be correct.
In such situation, this has raised question mark over the test procedures being followed across the country in such crucial times
After the concerns over the quality, now ICMR has advised states not to use rapid testing kits currently.
States advised not to use rapid testing kits for two days. A lot of variations, kits will be tested and validated by on-ground teams and we will give advisory in the next 2 days: R Gangakhedkar, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) pic.twitter.com/rWGe5a3T9Z
— ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2020
