Amidst the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Punjab, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that it is mandatory for all private labs and hospitals to immediately inform their respective Civil Surgeon’s offices about detection of any Covid-19 affected person for strengthening the containment measures.
Pertinently, the state government has already allowed the private laboratories and health centres to conduct tests of suspected patients.
Sidhu said, “It is of utmost importance that each and every case (suspected/confirmed) of Covid-19 is isolated and provided appropriate treatment and their contacts are traced at earliest to break the chain of transmission. Support and cooperation of the private sector is also vital in this regard.”
“It is mandatory for all hospitals (Government and Private), Medical officers in Government health institutions and registered Private Medical Practitioners including AYUSH Practitioners, to also notify such person to concern district surveillance unit,” he said.
Divulging about the capping of charges for CT-HRCT Scan for chest and RT-PCR for COVID-19, Sidhu said that no private diagnostic centres should charge any amount more than ₹2,000- for CT-Scan/HRCT chest, inclusive of GST/Taxes, documentation and reporting in Punjab. Similarly, no private laboratory should charge any amount more than ₹900 for RT-PCR test for Covid 19.
He said that the private laboratories must share their data pertaining to the results of tests for Covid-19 with the state government and upload it on ICMR portal on a timely basis. The test report should communicate to the patient immediately after the testing is complete and all test results should immediately communicate to the Civil Surgeon of the concerned district and State IDSP cell of Punjab.
India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 1,20,95,855 with 56,211 more people testing Covid positive, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Tuesday.
Eight states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh — reported a high number of Covid-19 daily new cases. About 84.5% of the new cases are reported from these eight states. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases, followed by Karnataka and Punjab.
