Locals lash out about 'chaotic' testing experience at North Goa district hospital

Panaji: While the rate of Covid-19 infections in the state is increasing alarmingly by the day, for many wanting to get tested, the experience has been far from smooth.

A local, who wanted to get herself tested for Covid urgently so that she could go ahead with a surgery in a private hospital, said she was first sent from the urban health centre in Panaji to the North Goa district hospital at Mapusa .

There, she was tested and charged the Rs 2,000 testing fee, but received her results only after three days, that too, only after pressurising authorities. “I had submitted a letter from the hospital and since I was made to pay, I thought my test would be given priority. In the end, I didn’t even get a PDF file of the result, just an SMS,” Ninoshka Fernandes told TOI.

Describing her experience at the North Goa district hospital as chaotic, she said, “Neither was any information put up, nor was there anyone who could guide us on the testing procedure. The police there rudely told us to stay far away from them, so we couldn’t ask them for information either,” she told TOI.

There was no priority given to senior citizens and sick people, she said. “We were all standing in the same queue. It was sad to see them awaiting their turn. There were chairs put out for them, but they should have been given preference. After waiting in line for almost an hour, I felt I was about to collapse, just imagine their plight.”

Another citizen who went to the same hospital to get his sister, who had a fever, tested, was also frustrated at the treatment meted out to the public. The entire process took four hours, he said.

“Getting something as basic as a Covid-19 test done was disorganised. After four months, why is it that we are still trying to figure out the most basic things? The government wants to stop the spread of the virus, but doesn’t make testing comfortably available,” Vikram Acharya said.

There are no circles drawn for the public to stand and no social distancing norms being followed, he said, adding that highly symptomatic patients were invariably coughing in the faces of others.

“These are basic ground rules that need to be put in place. It is ridiculous how simple markings cannot be made to ensure that people maintain distance,” he said.

Acharya said that considering the scale of the disaster, there should be clear-cut information about testing, including private testing options, made available to the public rather than the prevailing ambiguity.

Meanwhile, North Goa district hospital medical superintendent Dr Mohandas Pednekar, when contacted, said that the testing process for Covid-19 has been streamlined quite a bit since it began in the hospital.

“We are testing according to the SOP. This has reduced our crowd considerably to around 60 people per session,” he said.