Mrunal Manmay Dash

Angul: In an unprecedented incident, people at a hospital under Chendipada police limits were seen putting their Aadhaar cards on road to mark their position in the long queue made for getting themselves tested for COVID19.

The peculiar scenes were seen at a Community Health Centre at Koshala in Angul district. Locals alleged that the health centre does not have enough testing kits. They are forced to wait for long hours and sometimes return returned disheartened without undergoing the test.

As per reports, the situation arose after people who wanted to get tested for Coronvirus came in large numbers and the hospital was reportedly caught short of testing kits.

A local from Tangiri village said, “My wife is pregnant. So I brought her here for COVID test on Friday. After that I came here for three consecutive days to get my reports, but the hospital authorities said that neither my phone number nor my registration number is with them. So I came again today for testing and has been standing here since 3 am in the morning, but to my dismay, they told me that they ran out of testing kits and we have to come again tomorrow.”

Though, the resentment at the health centre was palpable, no comments could be obtained from the hospital authorities in this connection.

It is worthwhile to mention here that, a rising number of COVID infections in the State have triggered concerns for many. As the health experts pointed out, the virus has penetrated the rural areas as well and more numbers of people are getting infected with the virus in the villages, explaining the long queue at health centres.

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