Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) in certain districts have been instructed to completely stop conducting random polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, PHIs Union of Sri Lanka President Upul Rohana charged yesterday (29). “PHIs in some districts have been asked to stop conducting random PCR tests on 28 April and yesterday morning,” he said, issuing a statement.He claimed that if there is a shortage of supplies and resources to conduct PCR tests, the health sector and the public has a right to be informed of such shortages.“If random testing is being reduced to show that we have less cases, that would make the public relax and would result in the rapid transmission of the virus.”Responding to inquiries made by The Morning yesterday (29) about these claims made by PHIs Union of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Health Deputy Director General of Laboratory Services Dr. Sudath Dharmaratne said that the Ministry of Health has not given any instructions to stop conducting random PCR tests.“We have not issued any directives to stop random PCR tests. Random tests should be continued.”He further claimed that the number of random PCR tests to be conducted and the number of PCR tests to be conducted on close contacts for contact tracing purposes in a particular area, are determined by the Medical Officers of Health (MOHs) and the PHIs of that area.However, when we inquired as to how many random PCR tests were conducted yesterday, Dr. Dharmaratne said that this specific breakdown is with the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health.When queried as to whether there are shortages of supplies, Dr. Dharmaratne said that 23,730 PCR tests were conducted on 28 April, which is the highest number of PCR tests conducted so far, and that the existing resources are managed in order to conduct a large number of tests.“If there are shortages, we would not be able to conduct such a large number of tests. The Medical Supplies Division, the Epidemiology Unit, and the Laboratories are running a joint operation to conduct PCR tests.”Attempts to contact PHI Union President Upul Rohana for further clarifications and the Epidemiology Unit to obtain the exact number of random PCR tests conducted on 28 April and yesterday proved futile.
