Only 2 Suspected COVID-9 Cases at Gandhi, None at OGH
Since RT-PCR facilities are unavailable there, they were being referred to Gandhi Hospital or OGH.
HYDERABAD: As Covid-19 cases continue to be reported in neighbouring states, individuals with suspected symptoms are increasingly enquiring about RT-PCR testing at government hospitals in Hyderabad.
At Osmania General Hospital (OGH), a patient’s daughter approached doctors in the Nephrology Department seeking a Covid-19 test for her father after he complained of loss of taste. Doctors advised that loss of taste alone was not sufficient to suspect Covid-19, particularly in the absence of fever or other symptoms.
Similarly, at Niloufer Hospital, pregnant women were found enquiring about Covid-19 testing. Since RT-PCR facilities are unavailable there, they were being referred to Gandhi Hospital or OGH.
The enquiries come amid reports of a suspected Covid-19-related death of a woman from Tarnaka. Gandhi Hospital Superintendent Dr N. Vani clarified that no deaths due solely to Covid-19 have been reported at the hospital in the past two months.
“Covid-19 is now endemic. There have been incidental cases involving patients with multiple comorbidities, but no deaths have occurred due to Covid-19 alone. We have around 1,000 RT-PCR kits in stock and conduct tests whenever clinicians advise them. Only two patients tested positive in the last two months,” she said.
Sources told Deccan Chronicle that Area Hospitals, Basti Dawakhanas, Primary Health Centres, Fever Hospital and Niloufer Hospital currently do not have RT-PCR kits, forcing suspected patients to be referred to tertiary care hospitals.
OGH superintendent Dr Rakesh Sahay said the hospital had conducted 20 RT-PCR tests over the past two months on patients referred by the General Medicine Department, and none of the samples tested positive. “We have sufficient kits and testing is being carried out whenever doctors recommend it,” he said.
A senior health official said routine testing is not required unless there is an outbreak, clustering of infections, or a high clinical suspicion. “If multiple patients present with similar symptoms, testing should be intensified. Otherwise, people should continue following preventive measures, including wearing masks, particularly while travelling to states reporting higher Covid-19 cases,” the official said.
