Author: Huang Shubo, commentator of Xinhua Daily Telegraph
The Hefei Epidemic Prevention and Control Emergency Headquarters reported on the 23rd that Hefei Hehe Medical Laboratory and Hefei Nuoweier Medical Laboratory were not only super-capable to undertake the testing business, but also issued a test report seriously exceeding the promised time in nucleic acid testing, which affected Hefei City. The timely research and judgment of the epidemic situation, and several "false positive" reports were issued, which seriously interfered with the overall situation of Hefei's epidemic prevention and control, and decided to issue a warning to the two nucleic acid testing laboratories and suspend cooperation.
Once the notification was disclosed, public opinion was in an uproar: "How much chaos will it cause when false positives are issued? How much economic loss will it cause?"
Nucleic acid testing is an effective means of precise prevention and control. It is the first line of defense to actively screen asymptomatic infections and implement the requirements of "early detection, early reporting, early diagnosis, and early isolation". It can detect and control the source of infection as soon as possible. To prevent the spread of the epidemic and prevent the inability to diagnose and isolate in time, the entire epidemic prevention and control will be greatly passive.
This is the "basic operation" of epidemic prevention and control, and it is also basic common sense known to the public.
However, the notification from Hefei shows that this basic common sense has been "destroyed" by the individual nucleic acid testing institutions that know the most about the importance of nucleic acid testing and should have the least problems.
The two nucleic acid testing laboratories were warned and their cooperation was suspended. The decision of the Hefei epidemic prevention and control department was considered a remedy, but there are still many questions to be answered——
How did the "false positive" report come out?
Should details be disclosed?
Should the public have a right to know?
Since the "super-capacity to undertake the testing business" and "severely exceed the promised time to issue the testing report", how did such a testing agency contract the testing business?
Should the qualification standards and access procedures of testing institutions be open and transparent?
Is it suspected of breaking the law for falsifying nucleic acid test results, and is it just "warning and suspending cooperation" is "three drinks fine"?
Nucleic acid testing is one of the most important lines of defense for epidemic prevention and control. Once this line of defense is "fallen", the consequences will be unimaginable.
The issuance of "false positive" reports interferes with the overall situation of the war epidemic, which is very bad in nature and has very serious consequences.
Nucleic acid testing has a large business volume, and there are also interest chains. In this regard, the discipline inspection and supervision department should intervene, conduct a comprehensive and thorough "test" on the qualifications and access procedures of nucleic acid testing institutions, and strengthen supervision. Possible violations of discipline and law must be Severe accountability and severe punishment will ensure that all parties involved in nucleic acid testing will not dare to make trouble.