Doctor says struggling to get tested for COVID-19, tweets to Punjab CM

A 26-year-old resident doctor of a hospital claimed on Sunday she is struggling for three days for a COVID-19 test but she was declined because she was asymptomatic. Talking to media here, Pariminder Kaur said her condition is not good as she is suffering from high fever, chest pain, cough, dizziness and symptoms related to COVID-19.

She said she had requested the authorities at Guru Nanak Dev Medical College and Hospital for a COVID-19 test but they declined saying "we should wait for some time more". She tweeted to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday. "After a few hours I received a call from the CM Office telling me to go for the test and there would be no hurdle." But the doctors at the isolation ward of the hospital were forcing me to get admitted first.

"In isolation ward there are two positive patients. If I go there, I may contract COVID infection if I don't have now," she quipped.

"The staff in the medical college is saying they are short of testing kits which would arrive shortly," she claimed.

Asked why she was suspicious of having contracted the virus, she said she had visited the isolation ward four days back to get an N-95 mask. Hospital Principal Sujata Sharma said, "Dr Parminder herself is student of medicines, she knows very well about the symptoms but she is creating a hype, otherwise nothing else is there." Our nodal officer, the professor of medicine and other experts had observed her and there are no symptoms presently and that is why her sample was not taken, the principal said.

"We have enough stock of kits and every related material including medicines," she said.