Some private hospitals and laboratories have stopped home collection of swab samples for the Covid-19 test or scaled it down, apparently because of a regulatory panel’s advisory that the facilities should not demand anything extra from the patient other than a conveyance charge.

The hospitals and laboratories are also citing huge backlogs to explain why they have scaled down or stopped home collection of samples.

A private hospital off EM Bypass, which has franchisees across Calcutta to collect samples, has temporarily stopped home collection of samples, officials at the facility said. “There is a backlog of around 200 samples. We will resume home collection only after the samples are tested,” an official said.

The hospital was collecting nearly 1,000 samples from home every day.

Another private hospital said they had almost stopped collection of swab samples from home a few days ago. “We are only sending our personnel to those homes where people have serious comorbidities and are unable to come to the hospital,” said the CEO of the hospital.

The hospital is sending a doctor and another person to help him or her collect samples. “Both need to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and move in an air-conditioned vehicle. They need to change the PPE after collecting one or more samples at one venue. Given the new advisory of the regulatory commission, it is no longer viable,” he said.

The Telegraph had on Monday reported that the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission had issued an advisory that private hospitals and laboratories can only charge a conveyance fee of Rs 10 per kilometre, other than the cost of the test (which the government has capped at Rs 2,250), if they collect samples from home.

The CEO of the private hospital said home collection would be viable if they were allowed to charge around Rs 3,000 for every test.

Some diagnostic laboratories said they were forced to reduce home collection of swab samples because they did not have enough personnel.

“Five of our employees who used to collect samples have tested positive for Covid-19,” said Somnath Chatterjee, the director of Suraksha Diagnostics. The laboratory used to collect about 130 samples from homes daily across the city. “Now, we are collecting about 100,” Chatterjee said.

This newspaper has reported that private healthcare units are flooded with requests for home collection of swab samples as people are scared of going to a hospital or diagnostic laboratory to get tested. Most hospitals have created a waiting area for people but officials said it was often difficult to maintain social distancing.

Another reason why some hospitals are not being able to collect samples from home is because they have tied up with other hospitals who don’t have big testing facilities. One private hospital off the Bypass has tied up with two other healthcare units in Calcutta, from where 100-odd samples come every day.

Along with it, the hospital has its own samples collected from indoor patients and others.