Chandigarh dispensaries to screen all patients for Covid-19

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 28

All patients coming to dispensaries in Chandigarh will be screened for Covid even if they are asymptomatic and fully vaccinated, the Director, Health Services, Dr Suman Singh, has ordered.

As per the orders, patients of Chandigarh will be screened using the RT-PCR test and those from other states will be screened using both the RTPCR and Rapid Antigen test.

“All heads of departments of the GMSH, Sector 16, and allied dispensaries are directed to ensure that all OPD patients are screened for Covid even if they are asymptomatic and fully vaccinated,” the official orders state.

The orders have come in the wake of the Health Ministry pressing for increasing testing in all states after reports of a new virus variant, Omicron, surfaced. Like other states, Chandigarh has also seen a decline in testing after Covid cases began to fall.

Only 1,000 tests are being conducted daily now, while the daily testing capacity of Chandigarh is over 3,000. In September, the UT Health Secretary had asked the GMCH, Sector 32, to conduct tests in OPDs. However, as per senior doctors of the hospital, conducting tests of all patients coming to OPDs is a difficult task.

Besides dispensaries and the GMSH-16, the UT Adviser has instructed the PGI and the GMCH-32 to ramp up testing in OPDs.