Bengaluru: Unused swabs sent for COVID-19 testing; 2 health staffers suspended

Bengaluru: In a video that has gone viral, 2 sample collectors at the Kodigehalli Primary Health Centre (PHC) near Yelahanka here were seen packing unused swab sticks into containers to be sent to the laboratory for testing.

The two contract workers have since been suspended.

In the less than a minute long video, two men can be seen putting unused swab sticks into vials, that were meant to be despatched to testing labs. One person tells the other to share the video as much as possible as he will handle the situation if the need arises. Others are heard laughing after his statement.

After the video came to light, an inquiry found that the samples shown in the video were being sent to the National Centre For Biological Sciences for testing.

They are yet to find out how the two seen in the video generated Specimen Referral Form ID (SRFID) for the samples and whose phone numbers they used to register the samples.

The Centre had recently reported more than a dozen samples as ‘inconclusive’ (neither positive nor negative).

According to a BBMP official, the PHC was assigned to collect and test 650 samples every day.

The police have registered a case against the two persons.

Many such workers assigned to collect samples and testing have been stating they are pressured to increase the scale of collection and testing after the second wave of the pandemic hit the State.