Despite strict orders, BBMP fails to receive Covid test reports of pediatric patients

This after warnings that non-compliance would attract punishment under two state and a central acts

Five days after BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta ordered hospitals to perform the Covid test on 10 per cent of the pediatric patients, the civic body is yet to receive any test results.

This after warnings that non-compliance would attract punishment under one central and two state acts.

With the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) admitting lack of manpower to check the number of pediatric outpatients at the hospitals, it had warned action for non-compliance of its order under the Disaster Management Act, Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, and Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Ordinance.

The BBMP circular had said positive samples, if obtained, shall be sent for genomic sequencing in coordination with the zonal BBMP teams.

Dr Deepak Nadig, the nodal officer for the initiative, told DH: "We are only monitoring BBMP hospitals and not private facilities. We have not received any positive cases via Rapid Antigen Tests or RT-PCR tests so far.” Since we have a shortage of manpower, we are not getting the data of private hospitals.

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He said data on the number of patients visiting hospital outpatient wards has not been shared.

“We are still working out how to implement the 10 per cent mandate as per the chief commissioner's instructions,” Dr Deepak added. “We don't know if we have missed any. But the order is applicable to all government and private hospitals where paediatric patients visit."

Some private hospitals told DH about the tests they conducted.

Columbia Asia, Hebbal, for instance, said they found four Covid positive paediatric cases out of more than 25 paediatric patients tested from August 27, the date of the circular.

At Apollo Hospital, Seshadripuram, Consultant Paediatrician Dr Mayuri Yeole recently had a patient with Covid symptoms who eventually turned out to be positive.

“Cooperation from children for taking swabs is a big task,” Dr Mayuri admitted. “Dealing with parents' apprehension is another problem. Affordability is already an issue."

A member of the BBMP Paediatric Expert Committee, Intensivist Dr Rakshay Shetty at Rainbow Children's Hospital in Marathahalli, questioned how children could be tested randomly without respiratory symptoms merely to meet the 10 per cent target.

“Why will parents pay for an RT-PCR test that costs Rs 2,500 for no reason?” he asked. “Until the BBMP pays for it, we can't ask families to get their children randomly tested for Covid. How do we force the family? This doesn't pertain to the hospital's compliance, but is more related to the patient's consent."