In peak dengue season, Odisha faces shortage of testing kits

BHUBANESWAR: Amid a surge in dengue positive cases, Odisha faces a shortage of testing kits in government hospitals exposing the shoddy preparedness of the public health administration. The state has been reporting over 100 positive cases daily.

Sources said the state has been grappling with dengue cases in recent weeks, with hospitals across half of the districts witnessing an influx of patients exhibiting symptoms of the disease.

However, diagnosis and effective response have been affected due to insufficient ELISA testing kits at the public health facilities. The government hospitals are overwhelmed by patients for ELISA-based tests as the directorate of public health has urged people to refrain from testing of the vector-borne disease on rapid diagnosis kits.

Though dengue rapid test is based on lateral flow immuno assay for the qualitative detection of IgM/IgG and NS1 antibodies to the virus in humans, the directorate had asked people to report at government sentinel sites for tests citing that the rapid tests are not admissible as their sensitivity and specificity are doubtful.

The state has around 45 ELISA-based test labs, including those at 32 district headquarters hospitals, government medical colleges, regional medical research centre and AIIMS. Reports indicate that many hospitals are running low on essential kits, leaving the patients in a precarious position.

Although the public health directorate has requested the directors of Capital Hospital, Rourkela Government Hospital, superintendents of medical colleges and hospitals (MCHs) and CDMOs to procure locally to prevent stockout of NS1 ELISA kits, experts working in the field termed it as a ploy to take advantage of the situation.

Blaming the health officials for their apparent lack of foresight, sources said the districts were asked to submit their indent to Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL) for procurement of kits. Besides, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja at a review meeting in June had also directed to deploy rapid response teams with an adequate number of diagnostic kits and medicines to deal with the situation. But, no action was taken.

Health authorities, however, said the districts and MCHs have been asked to purchase the kits following procurement guidelines for a month or till adequate supply from OSMCL.