With three members of a family in Pune testing positive for the new coronavirus in DNA sequencing, questions are being raised about the efficacy of SARS surveillance in the country. This being the first instance of localised infection (as the patient has spread the disease to others), makes the situation more grave.Firstly, 29-year-old patient Stanley D’Silva, like the first SARS victim in Goa, was detected with the virus in a private hospital and not through the airport surveillance system.More important is the fact that Stanley was not diagnosed till he passed it to his mother Vimal and his 26-year-old sister Julie D’Silva.According to Health Ministry officials, the sample testing was done by the NIV, Pune, and the confirmed reports came at around 7.30 pm. Surprisingly, the Ministry had never listed the family in the suspected case and there was no mention of any one of them in the daily briefings.The DGHS office had no idea about the patient’s status till the confirmed test reports came in today. ‘‘The local health authorities might be knowing about the case,’’ said Dr S.P.Agarwal, DGHS.He also failed to answer why the patient was admitted in a private hospital even though his biological samples were send to NIV. The man was admitted to private hospital, Siddhartha, on April 17. He was not shifted to any chest diseases hospital as per the SARS guidelines.
