RML hospital doesn't give test reports on time, says Delhi Health Minister

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital does not give test reports on time.

"Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital doesn't give test reports on time. 70 per cent of people are dying within 24 hours of reaching the hospital as their test reports come in 5-7 days. This is absolutely wrong, reports should come within 24 hours," Jain told .

"Recently, RML Hospital tested 94 per cent samples as positive in a day. On retesting, we found 45 per cent of these to be negative. I have asked the Union Health Minister to fix this casual approach," he said.

Jain's allegation comes a day after AAP MLA Raghav Chadha had alleged that RML hospital has violated guidelines for COVID-19 testing.

"RML hospital has violated guidelines of COVID-19 test. There is a discrepancy in the COVID-19 test in the RML hospital," Chadha had said at a press conference here.

He had said 30 samples, which had come positive in tests by RML hospital, were re-tested again by the Delhi government. Of these 12 were found negative in the retest while the results of two samples were inconclusive, he said.

The MLA has said according to guidelines of Central and Delhi governments and the High Court, patients should be given their COVID-19 test results within 48 hours but there are many cases in which RML hospital gave reports after a long delay.

At present, there are 13,479 COVID-19 active cases in the national capital, as per the Union Health Ministry's Thursday bulletin.

( With inputs from ANI )