Verified Support
Jun 23, 2020
Thyrocare Customer Care's response Re :- Clarification with reference to the complaint filed by PINKY KANOJIA with reference to the patient NITIN MUNNA KANOJIA on your online portal dated 22.06.2020
We refer to the online complaint filed on your portal, though we have not received any such grievance from such patient till date. Nevertheless, we consider the plights of the patients with due respect and honor their sentiments in the matter of their misapprehensions. Our caring for the betterment of their health is nonetheless not second to anyone’s.
We wish to confirm that we have performed test for NITIN MUNNA KANOJIA, requisitioned by Dr Mukul Arte and we have reported the test as ‘NEGATIVE’ on 4 June 2020 at 12:00 and we also confirm that we have performed test again for NITIN MUNNA KANOJIA, as requisitioned by Dr Mukul Arte and we have reported the test as ‘POSITIVE’ on 11 June 2020 at 13:07. We also further confirm the tests results are also updated to ICMR on their portal, as per the prescribed guidelines and procedures, within the requisite timeframe. We also have ensured to forward the test reports to the municipal authorities within the prescribed times. As per the reporting guidelines as on that date, the test reports of patients diagnosed ‘NEGATIVE’ only can be released to the patients and therefore the report of the patient when diagnosed ‘POSITIVE’ was reported only to municipal authority and referring doctor.
With reference to the concerns as were pointed out by PINKY KANOJIA, we refute the allegations referred therein and the comments that were posted and/ or circulated therein based on the stated allegations and reject them as false. The complainant seems to have relied only on certain information and appears to have been made in a hurry pointing to only a certain quote in a selective manner and without any clarification from our end.
We are the pioneers in the private sector offering entire range of laboratory services across the nation. Our quarter-century long credentials have made the Indian Council for Medical Research to sponsor us, among the top players in the private sector, to accept referrals from governments and civic bodies for Covid-19 testing through our laboratories established throughout the country. We gather that the above sole competent apex regulatory authority, viz., ICMR, is not seized of any adverse reporting against us from any government authorities or civic bodies engaged in Covid-19 combat exercise.
We would like to confirm that we stand by our fact as obtained from our records generated from proven automated process. Discrepancies in the status, such as +ve case becoming negative or -ve case becoming positive, are not rarities as observed from medical reports from authorities, who opine that such variance happens on account of numerous factors to be evaluated through diagnosis process only and in any case cannot be attributed to laboratory reports, holding the laboratories as culprits. We have already clarified, “The viral load increases in the body first and then comes down based on the immune response. It is quite possible that a person who has tested positive may test negative within a few days.” We have asserted that we have been following ICMR guidelines and are using ICMR approved kits and procedures. Our records show that the readings that depicts the sample was clear positive when reported as positive, with amplification in test and internal control channel.
It is our endeavor to clarify the complainant that being an accredited laboratory, we report our findings based on our records generated from proven automated process only.
Further in the complaint, the complainant have highlighted certain news about us earlier published, we wish to clarify in this regard that, the stated contents of the news about us is nothing but a fake news. We already released press release on the subject and apart the same being endorsed by Mumbai Mirror, the daily newspaper.
This apart we wish to categorically further highlight that the news article is misplaced, on account of wrong contents as the lady lawyer referred therein and/ or the image whereof is reflecting therein the forwarded fake message, has never got her COVID tests done from Thyrocare. We already have filed before cybercrime wing to take cognisance of the same and initiate further coercive action after due investigation.
It is highly preposterous to report the unverified and unconfirmed information in social media and or online portal and that too without ascertaining corroborating facts either from us or from authorities concerned.
For RT-PCR tests, like those used to diagnose COVID-19, false positive/ negatives occur for a variety of reasons such as :
- Severity and onset of infection.
- The level of viral RNA being below the limit of detection of the test.
- Incubation period.
- Best specimen types.
- Collection methods.
- Extraction and testing platforms for SARS2-CoV detection.
We at Thyrocare use only ICMR approved kits and not deviating from protocols provided by vendors and/ or ICMR.
At Extraction of RNA, with good quality RNA, the possibility of false negative is excluded. We at Thyrocare use completely automated solution for extraction, RNA addition and PCR.
Addition of RNA with Reagent Mix is also automated with the help of liquid handler system at Thyrocare, which excludes the possibility of cross or carry over contamination.
In practical terms, the limit of detection (LOD) for an RT-PCR test tells you the minimum amount of RNA that the test will detect 95 out of 100 times. If the limit of detection (LOD) for a test is too high, patients who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 may not test positive, leading to a high rate of false-negative results.
Also without proper transport medium or storage, specimens degrade. This is especially true for the RNA that is detected by an RT-PCR test. RNA is less stable than DNA, so if a specimen is not transported or stored appropriately, the risk of a false-negative RT-PCR result increases.
Last but not the least, clinical presentation of patient on day, two or three if immunity is clearing the virus from body patient may flag negative on that day itself.
Thus the healthcare workers and medical practitioners need to consider all above factors, when they are comparing any laboratory results with another. The Positive results has to be reported positives, adhering to all guidelines in quality.
And for that matter as already stated by us and proven too, please note that when it comes to COVID-19, All positives today were negative yesterday and all positives today, have to become negative tomorrow. Laboratories have to report for that sample for that day only. We are periodically assessed by agencies for quality and we have been certified as 100% concordance with the results from these certifying laboratories.
We trust that you would bestow your best to evaluate the fact and shall note our denial with due prominence, crediting authenticity for the continuance of our earnest endeavors.
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