On Friday, doctors in Gujarat along with their associations stated before the Gujarat high court that the number of tests done in the state should be increased, in accordance with the Centre’s persistence on increased testing in Delhi. Doctors in Gujarat are also opposing restrictions on COVID-19 testing.

The Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA) and Indian Medical Association’s Gujarat chapter asked the Gujarat government’s restrictions on COVID-19 testing and wanted prior permission from the government authority shouldn’t be mandatory to test asymptomatic doctors and healthcare workers.

The government has already been eliminating one restriction after another, but an MD’s prescription is still necessary to get approval for testing of asymptomatic COVID-19 persons. Mitul Shelat, the associations’ advocate had submitted the plea to the Supreme Court stating that any person is entitled for the COVID-19 test and the government must remove all obstacles.

He also appealed that many government dispensaries in rural areas don’t have MDs and in such situation, the case is referred to the district headquarters where the MD is available. The lawyer emphasized the need to increase testing, while citing the Centre’s insistence that Delhi must increase their testing three times more than what it was doing. Subsequently, the daily number of tests done in Delhi rose from 6,000 to 18,000. Considering Gujarat’s population, present testing is not sufficient and there should be a minimum 40,000 tests per day to be done.

The lawyer further told the HC that 19 laboratories are approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for COVID-19 testing. Five private laboratories and two government laboratories are waiting for the state government’s permission to start testing since one month. He debated that laboratory facilities should also be improved, and each district ought to have a laboratory for COVID testing.

The state government’s opinion that restrictions on COVID testing are practical and in public interest was strongly opposed by Anshin Desai, a senior counsel.

Assistant solicitor general Devang Vyas, for ICMR, has submitted that a prescription from any doctor or physician is the only prerequisite for COVID testing. On this, Shelat debated that when the ICMR is not keeping any restriction, then the Gujarat government is pointlessly insisting that only MDs should prescribe the COVID-19 test and not the MBBS degree doctors.

Source: The Times of India