RTI activist Ajay Dubey has written to CMs of MP, UP, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
New Delhi: At least four states in India are not handing out RT-PCR reports, including the Ct (Cycle threshold) value, to patients who are undergoing Covid-19 tests in these states, claims a renowned RTI activist, who has written a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the chief ministers of these states.
RTI activist Ajay Dubey has written a letter to the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar, seeking their intervention to release the RT-PCR report along with the Ct value of the patients who are undergoing Covid-19 tests in these states.
According to the letter written by Dubey, a copy of which is also with The Sunday Guardian, he says: “Disclosure of Ct Value is extremely essential for any patient or the person undergoing the RT-PCR test. So much so that it can be treated as a Fundamental Right under Article 19(1)(A) read with Article 21 of the Constitution of India of the said person undergoing the test to know the precise outcome of the medical test undergone by him; to enable him to take an informed and proper decision regarding his health which he thinks as an autonomous entity in the eyes of the law. Non-disclosure of the Ct Value after the RT-PCR test being undergone by the patient concerned is a serious violation of his Right to Privacy also, as he is entitled to know the dynamics of what is happening inside his human body.”
Dubey further added that all private laboratories in Madhya Pradesh have stopped conducting RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 owing to the capping in the price for the test by the government which has left patients with only option of going to a public health facility to test for Covid-19, leaving the public health infrastructure burdened.
In his letter, Dubey wrote, “It is being complained by a large number of patients that none of the government testing agencies or laboratories in Madhya Pradesh are either furnishing the copy of Covid-19 test reports undertaken by them or are disclosing the precise Ct Value found during the test being undertaken of the patient concerned in the testing process. So much so that only a text message is received on the mobile of the person undergoing the test whether he has been tested Covid positive or negative and there is no further intimation of any detail by the government testing laboratory concerned to the prospective patient. Keeping the person undergoing the test in such an absolute darkness is arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional.”
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Dubey said that through his letter he has requested the Chief Ministers of the states and the Prime Minister to intervene in this matter to ensure that lives are saved, and that people do not panic in this hard time of the pandemic.
“Our primary concern is why the testing agencies are not releasing the Ct value of patients when the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has prescribed a certain limit after holding discussion with all stakeholders. In some states, the RT-PCR report is also being just sent as a text message on the patient’s phone number. This system needs to be more transparent, and this is what our plea is.” Dubey said.
The ICMR in its latest order earlier this month has said that the Ct value of less than 35 in an RT-PCR test should be treated as Covid positive, while Ct Value of more than 35 should be treated as Covid negative.
However, a senior scientist and spokesperson from ICMR told The Sunday Guardian that ICMR has released the cut-off Ct value for declaring Covid positive or Covid negative, but Ct value cannot be used for determining the severity of the infection of the virus in the patient’s body, since Ct value depends on a variety of factors which includes the condition and environment in which the sample was collected, how long the sample took to reach the laboratory, the device on which the RT-PCR was conducted, the sample collecting procedure adopted by the laboratory assistant, etc.
The scientist further added that the Ct value which comes out in the RT-PCR is the Ct value of the sample and does not necessarily show the severity of the infection or the viral load in the person.
Official sources from at least two state Chief Ministers’ offices to which this letter was sent by Dubey confirmed to The Sunday Guardian of receiving the letter and after taking cognizance of Dubey’s letter, the Chief Ministers of these states have directed their respective Health Secretaries to gather more information on the subject.