Private hospitals and diagnostic laboratories are flooded with requests for collection of swab samples for the Covid-19 test from home but the waiting list is getting longer by the day because most facilities lack enough personnel for the service.

The bulk of the requests for home collection of swab samples is for elderly people, officials associated with hospitals and laboratories said.

A Shyambazar resident lost her sense of smell and had a mild fever, two distinct symptoms of Covid-19. The woman on Monday called up a private hospital off EM Bypass to get her swab sample collected from home for the Covid test.

“The hospital told me it would not be possible for them to send a person before Wednesday because they have a long waiting list,” she said.

Doctors and hospital officials said most people, particularly those who are elderly and have health conditions such as diabetes or compromised renal function, are not willing to go to a crowded hospital or diagnostic laboratory for the test.

A family with masks and face shields in Tollygunge on Tuesday afternoon. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

“Many people with fever and other symptoms are calling me up every day and asking whether they should get themselves tested. More than 90 per cent of such patients ask me if I know any facility that collects samples from home,” said physician Amitabha Saha.

Most hospitals said they did not have enough employees who could be sent to hundreds of homes to collect swab samples. Many hospitals have created isolated facilities where swab samples for the Covid-19 test are collected.

Despite such facilities, the demand for home collection of samples is rising, hospital officials said.

Officials of some hospitals said they had collected more samples from home than on their campuses.

Medica Superspecialty Hospital had collected 300 samples from home in May. In June, the number went up to 800.

“Now, we are collecting 250 samples every day on an average from home. The number of people coming to our hospital for tests is 150 daily,” said Alok Roy, the chairman of Medica Superspecialty Hospital.

To cope with the demand, the hospital has set up 20 sample collection centres across Calcutta, from where personnel are going to houses to collect swab samples. But the backlog is still huge, said hospital officials.

Roy said that in most cases, the request for home collection comes from big families. “Usually, three to 10 samples are collected from a big family during home visits. Families with many members don’t want to go to hospital for getting tested,” said Roy.

AMRI Hospitals is receiving about 1,800 calls every day and most callers are having queries about Covid. But around 300 of them on an average are asking whether the hospital can send someone to collect swab samples from home, hospital officials said.

“We are not running the service because of lack of manpower,” said the AMRI official.

Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals does not usually collect swab samples from homes, except for those who are elderly, because of lack of personnel, hospital sources said.

But the hospital is getting requests from public sector and private companies, that deal with a large number of people, for collecting swab samples in bulk from offices or construction sites, said an Apollo source.

Recently, Apollo collected around 800 swab samples at a East-West Metro construction site, said sources.

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.

“This has stretched our testing capacity and so home collection is not possible,” the CEO of the hospital said.