Here is India’s first drive-through testing centre for COVID-19

Advantages of the model

Drive-through centers have played a crucial role in curbing the epidemic in South Korea, where 15,000 to 20,000 tests are conducted daily.

“For a strategic pandemic planning and preparedness, this model has seemed to do wonders… This protocol ensures that there is minimal risk to the patients who are coming for testing as well as the health care workers by minimising the exposure,” Devjani said. 

She also pointed to studies conducted by Stanford Medicine, which noted that a “drive-through model” facilitates testing of a large number of people while mitigating the spread of infections.

Dr Manoj B. Jais, who oversees the Covid-19 testing facility at Lady Hardinge Medical College in the national capital, agreed with this.

“This is a good way of keeping doctors at a safe distance. It’s also good for patients who don’t want to go to the government hospitals or want someone to come inside their house to collect samples. Such booths should also be made in government hospitals,” he said. 

The model has also provided an answer for the privacy concerns being raised by suspected Covid-19 patients. The past few weeks have seen multiple reports of people being ostracised if they so much as test or have a travel history. This includes multiple instances of healthcare professionals and flight attendants facing discrimination, with some being asked to vacate their houses.

Amarjeet Khokhar, a technician at Dr Dangs Lab who has been tasked with collecting samples from home, exercises several precautions on every visit in order to avoid causing panic.

“When we go to the patient, we don’t wear our uniforms so that there is no panic in the neighbourhood. They don’t know that Covid-19 testing is happening in the house. So we don’t want to raise an alarm,” he said. 

Considering the benefits, Dr Dangs Lab, which currently receives about 30 samples a day, is also hoping to extend the test to those with two-wheelers.

“Whether more people will sign up or not depends on awareness through social media platforms and also word of mouth. But this strategic planning and preparedness will definitely serve the population at large in the times to come as more number of people can now come and get tested,” De added.