False Report: Students Who Didn’t Have Covid, Test Positive, Doctor Suspended.

Students of a of a private school in J&K’s Rajouri district tested negative one day after testing positive for Covid-19 in a Health Department drive.

Thirty-two students were isolated in a government centre  after testing positive.

As the test reports came in Thursday, the Union Territory Administration suspended Dr Shabab Ahmed, a dental surgeon who had been made the nodal officer for Covid-19 in Thanamandi area.

Ahmed said he was not present when the RAT tests were carried out by a field team comprising two lab technicians, an x-ray technician and a pharmacist on September 27.

Ahmed said he was not present when the RAT tests were carried out by a field team comprising two lab technicians, an x-ray technician and a pharmacist on September 27.

A statement issued by the Rajouri Deputy Commissioner R K Shavan cited “lackadaisical approach and dereliction of duty.”

The statement said that instructions had been issued for “aggressive testing of students and staff all over the district”.

“During testing on September 27 at one of the private school in Thanamandi zone under the supervision of Dr Shabab Ahmed, 32 students were dected COVID-19 positive and as per SOPs, they were shifted to COVID Care Centre at Plangarh for isolation,” it stated. “Next day, RTPCR test of all those students was conducted wherein all have been reported negative.”

Shavan also directed the Darhal Block Medical Officer to explain her position on the lapse by the Health Department within three days.

Schools for class 10 and 12 students were reopened in Rajouri on September 27. The Education Department had ordered closure of the institution in question from September 28 to October 2.

Dr Ahmed said the team, during the first 15 minutes of the testing, informed him over the phone that the RAT slides showed no symptom.