By Rathindra Kuruwita

A number of senior health officers had been compelled to leave the campaign against Covid-19 and their replacements were junior officers President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science, Ravi Kumudesh told The Island yesterday.

Kumudesh said the exodus of the capable and experienced professionals jeopardized the campaign against Covid-19.

“The President has to be consulted on any decision. The state labs can conduct 25,000 PCR tests a day, but fewer than 4,000 are done at present. We have been asking the government to provide 10 buses that we can use as mobile PCR testing units, but even after a year the government has not complied with our request. We have the best PCR lab at the BIA, with equipment worth over Rs. 100 million, but not a single tourist has been tested there. All the samples are sent to private labs.”

Kumudesh said while the campaign against Covid-19 was crumbling; the general public had been duped into thinking that the pandemic was under control and that the number of infections was dropping naturally.

“People think they are safe. They are being encouraged to celebrate the coming festive season. The government has been telling us that there has been a significant drop in new cases and now people think that the virus is under control. However, when we look at the world, we see that the virus is mutating.”

The President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science said that the variant that originated in England was prevalent in Sri Lanka and even the South African variant could be in the country.

“The virus has spread from the Western Province to the rest of the country. The numbers have dropped because we have reduced the number of tests. Because we do not test adequate numbers, we are only detecting those who are seriously sick or those who are dying. It will be silly if we delude ourselves into thinking that the numbers are actually dropping.”

Kumudesh added that Sri Lankan officials were even misleading the public about the money spent on PCR testing.

“The Minister of Health has said the government spends Rs. 80 million a day on PCR testing. The real number is less than Rs. 10 million. We have shown the ministry how we can actually make money from tourists. More importantly, if we don’t conduct PCR tests properly, we won’t be able to make right decision and contain the pandemic.’