Two key COVID testing facilities in Pune - The labs at Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital and BJ Medical College have been unable to increase the number of RT-PCR tests due to serious manpower limitations.

The YCM hospital lab is currently operating two shifts to perform 500 tests a day. The lab at BJ Medical College is running round-the-clock to perform 1,200 daily tests. Both facilities can increase their numbers, but officials said the shortage of trained personnel has been a major obstacle.

Rajendra Wabale, dean of YCM Hospital, said, "The PCMC asked us to run three shifts at full capacity to increase the number of daily tests. But we are relying on contract technicians to operate two shifts. Yes, there are manpower issues."

He said a third shift can increase the lab`s capacity to 800 daily tests and reduce wait time.

An official from BJ Medical College said the lab, besides a manpower crunch, was grappling with the lack of an RNA extractor machine to increase testing capacity.

On Sunday, during a review meeting on the Covid situation in the region, deputy CM Ajit Pawar had said the medical college should be provided with an RNA extractor to increase daily capacity to 1,700 samples.

Health activist Abhijit More said staff shortage at key facilities, amid a rise in caseload, proved both PMC and PCMC lacked long-term vision.

He said, “There are many vacancies at civic hospitals, but officials decided to hire contract workers for short stints of 15 to 180 days. When cases dropped, contracts were cancelled. So now we’re now left with a manpower shortage at important facilities across Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.”

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