Test reports of symptomatic patients should be available in 24 hrs: Fadnavis

Mumbai: Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra legislative assembly on Sunday demanded that the test report for Covid-19 should be made available within 24 hours and argued that delayed results is life threatening. Referring to the growing pressure on civic authorities to maintain civic health infrastructure in these pandemic times, he asserted that there is a need to give special attention the municipal corporation’s coming under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

He said fundamentally these municipal corporations are not strong enough. “The health system in these municipal corporations is not up to the mark. These municipalities are dependent more on the state government and private hospitals”, Fadnavis told reporters after meeting commissioner of Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) in neighbouring Thane district. 

Ulhasnagar has been witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases for quite some time now. 

He said testing facilities will have to be ramped up in Ulhasnagar which is witnessing huge surge in Covid-19 cases. 

“Rate of infection of coronavirus in Ulhasnagar has gone up to 35 per cent. Therefore, the testing report should be procured in 24 hours under any circumstance which will help in deciding on where the patients should be kept in isolation and subsequent line of treatment”, he said.

“If the test report of a symptomatic patient is given in 2-3 days, then the patients are not admitted in hospitals as it is not clear whether the patient is Covid or non-Covid. The person gets critical by then. Hence, report should be received in 24 hours”, the former chief minister said. 

The health infrastructure in Ulhasnagar is less looking at the population density. As a reason the health facilities will have to be scaled up. ICU beds, oxygenated beds, ventilators will have to be increased. The state government will have to help such municipal corporations”, he added. 

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Since the health staff is also less it will have to be seen whether they can be sourced from other parts of the state, he said. 

To a query on the appointment of 12 Maharashtra Legislative Council members from the governor’s quota, an issue raised by Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, Fadnavis said, “Sanjay Raut should not worry about the nomination of members but on the Covid crisis in the state. The issue raised by Raut actually is a non-issue”, he stated. 

Raut in his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’ (blunt and brutal) in party mouthpiece Saamana said, delay in the nomination of 12 MLCs from Governor’s quota would amount to violation of the Constitution and suppression of freedom.