AIIMS-Delhi to retest disputed Covid samples

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 29

Following a controversy over the Covid reports of SRL Diagnostics, the Health Department has decided to get the disputed samples tested from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, before taking action against the Gurugram-based private lab.

Health Minister Anil Vij said 11 tests conducted by the private lab were disputed. “Four tests in Ambala and seven in Gurugram are disputed. Now, AIIMS-Delhi will conduct retests,” he said.

Earlier, Vij had asked the Chief Medical Officers of Ambala and Gurugram to submit their findings to a six-member committee formed to look into the functioning of all private labs testing Covid samples. SRL Diagnostics is one of the five private labs, all in Gurugram, for Covid sampling in the state.

In Ambala, the SRL report showed a Covid-nurse positive, while her tests at Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal, and BPS Medical College, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, returned negative. Later, all three samples were retested and found negative.

SRL Diagnostics has stood by results. “We decided to retest the samples earlier tested on April 18 using RNA extracts from the same samples stored with us under ICMR-recommended guidelines. The test results are out and are positive again,” said SRL Diagnostics in a clarification issued on April 23.