Health – Hanover – Municipalities: Private corona test centers mostly harmless – health
Hanover (dpa / lni) – According to the Lower Saxony municipalities, corona tests in private test centers are usually just as reliable as those in pharmacies and doctor’s offices. This is the result of a survey by the German Press Agency in the districts and urban districts. According to this, only isolated deviations in the rate of infections detected have been found so far. And where they exist, they are more likely to be attributed to the reason for the test than to negligence on the part of the test centers.
The Helmstedt and Rotenburg districts reported that the rate of positive tests among doctors in their regions was higher than in the stations of private operators. A statement about the quality cannot be made because of this. Several municipalities suspect that doctors are testing more people who are already complaining of symptoms, while private test centers are visited as a precautionary measure. “We therefore do not assume any differences in quality,” said a spokesman for the city of Braunschweig.
The district of Verden explained that despite the large number of test centers, only four complaints have been received so far. So far there have not been any controls in the region due to a lack of staff, but these should be made up for shortly. In the district of Osterholz, the previous controls of the test centers were rated as “largely satisfactory”.
A complete overview of the test results is often difficult for the municipalities because of the active operators – private entrepreneurs, charitable associations, pharmacies. The district of Wittmund simply explained that there are good and less good test centers. “But we don’t keep any lists for this, and we don’t do any dedicated evaluations either.” In the end, in addition to the quality of the test kit, “a good swab removal technique by the test staff” is decisive for the validity of the corona test, according to Emden.
The survey was prompted by a report by Bremen’s “Weser-Kurier” that private test centers in the Hanseatic city either did not work thoroughly enough or used insufficient material. This was attributed to the report on figures from the health authorities and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV). While the average positive rate in the privately operated test centers is just under three percent, it is four times higher in the only center of the KV.
In Lower Saxony, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians does not operate its own test centers. Instead, tests are carried out in private test centers, in test centers of the health authorities, which are mostly operated by charitable organizations such as the German Red Cross, in pharmacies and in doctor’s offices. The KVN does not have an overview of the results of the tests.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220130-99-903530/3