No, Thane Thyrocare Lab Is Not Sealed Over False Positive COVID-19 Tests

A viral message claiming Thyrocare diagnostic laboratories in Thane, Maharashtra has been sealed for having a nexus with private hospitals and diagnosing false positive cases of COVID-19, is fake.

False positive cases arise when a person without a disease tests positive for the disease. BOOM reached out to Thyrocare who confirmed that while the Thane Municipal Corporation has asked them to stop testing, no laboratories of the diagnostic chain have been sealed.

The message which is doing the rounds on WhatsApp claims that Thyrocare was deliberately testing people positive and then sending these positive cases to private hospitals, which in turn charged patients Rs three lakh to treating COVID-19 patients. The message does not specify the location of the lab or the private hospital. It further uses a link of a Mumbai Mirror news article, to add credibility to the forward but the article does not make the same allegations as the viral forward.

The viral message is being shared in the midst of a controversy Thyrocare finds itself in, with three municipal bodies in Maharashtra pulling up the diagnostic lab for various lapses in their testing of COVID-19 samples. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which in April had asked Thyrocare to stop testing, has following a reply from the lab, given permission for them to resume. Currently, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has asked the chain to stop testing in Thane and areas under TMC. 

The Thane civic body passed the order after Mumbai Mirror published an article discussing the increasing number of false positive cases in Thane where the tests were conducted by Thyrocare. This same article is being shared with the viral fake forward to lend credibility to the message. 

The text of the message reads, "In Thane, Thyrocare lab sealed by gov., because they gave fake covid positive reports to ppl. The reasion behind this is this lab have connection with pvt. hospitals and after fake positive reports they send that person to that particular hospitals, those have three lakhs package for COVID patients

Below is a screenshot of the viral message:

The claim is also viral on Facebook.

Also Read: Is Thrombosis The Leading Cause Of COVID-19 Deaths? A FactCheck

Why Has Thyrocare Been Pulled Up?

In May, the Thane civic body observed that six out of 12 patients admitted into COVID-19 wards tested negative after their samples were reanalyzed by the TMC. A further inquiry showed that the said patients had tested positive in tests conducted by Thyrocare. The TMC susbequently issued a notice to the diagnostic labs to stop collecting samples from suspect patients and run PCR tests.

However, the TMC is not the only civic body to find irregularities in Thyrocare's reporting. In April, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had also issued a notice to the lab chain to stop testing after they found several lapses. 

The BMC sent a notice to Thyrocare asking them to reply to the observed lapses. Dr Daksha Shah, Joint Executive Health Officer, BMC said, "the lab chain was allowed to restart conducting tests after they replied to the BMC's grievances on delayed reporting and other lapses."

The Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation also issued a notice about lapses in Thyrocare's reporting but is yet to ask them to stop testing. 

What Are False Positive Tests? 

In diagnosis, the accuracy of a test is determined by its ability to to correctly test whether a disease is actually present in an individual. A false positive is when a person without the disease tests positive for the disease. 

In case of COVID-19 false positives could arise due to human or systemic errors such as mishandling of samples, mislabelling of samples and incorrect data entry. 

BOOM spoke to Dr Rajnikant Srivastava, ICMR whether they are in know about the number of false positive cases by private labs. "With over 700 laboratories, testing for the quality of each lab is difficult. The labs have been asked to upload their results regularly on the ICMR portal. These labs were tested earlier and then approved. We have done one round of satisfactory verifications."

FACT CHECK

BOOM found that while Thyrocare has been asked by the TMC to stop testing, the civic body has not an order to seal any branch of the diagnostic lab in Thane. We further found the diagnostic chain has been pulled up by three civic bodies but none have ordered a shut down of any of Thyrocare's labs.

A look at the message shows that the attached link to the Mumbai Mirror story does not make the same claims as in the message. The message is also vague where it does not mention the location of the sealed lab or details about the private hospital which Thyrocare is said to have a nexus with.

Mumbai Mirror took to Twitter saying the news article does not mention about a Thyrocare lab being sealed.

BOOM then reached out to Sachin Salvi, VP Finance, Thyrocare who denied the allegations that the lab in Thane is sealed by authorities. He said " We have stopped collecting samples in Thane. We have written to the corporation justifying the tests but have not received any responses. We are collecting swabs in all other regions that fall under Mumbai Metropolitan Region."

He further denied the allegations in the message that the lab had a nexus with a private hospital and said the company is waiting for a response from the civic body.

The diagnostic chain also took to Twitter and said an FIR has been filed.