Charvi Saraf pens down an open letter with regards to her experience trying to get a Covid-19 test done in Delhi!

Charvi Saraf who plays Shivani ( Prerna's sister) in Kasautii Zindagii Kay, pens down an open letter with regards to her experience trying to get a Covid test done in Delhi. 

She says, "I have Covid-19 symptoms, but is getting a test done too much to ask for in Delhi ??

Ever since the lockdown was announced, I'm in delhi, my hometown. We were homebound and like everyone else, we only used to step out for buying essentials. Everything seemed fairly okay, and healthy. We had adjusted to the new corona lifestyle.

Last week I started feeling uneasy, my body temperature kept picking up and dropping. Soon I started having high fever, with a lot of body ache, breathlessness, pain in throat, headache etc. Off course like any one would, I started panicking with the fear that am I suffering from Covid? Moreover I was scared for my family, I didn't want anything to happen to them, so I decided to quarantine myself.

The first thing in the mind was to get a CoVid-19 test done but, little did I know that even getting a test done was a task in its own way in Delhi."

She added, "I made few calls to the doctors who had been treating us for years, they said they don't have Covid test kits with them, which I understand. Next I called few private hospitals nearby, they point blank refused saying this facility is not available here. All I wanted was someone to come over and do my tests as I wasn't in the right energy or position to go to the hospital to get it tested. Then I made few calls to some Goverment hospitals also which I read in the news were surely testing, they asked me to consult my doctor for it could be viral. I even contacted the Covid 19 helpline, they said they are already full till next week. By this time I got desperate, only to get a test done.

It's been five days now of showing proper symptoms and my attempts for getting a test done has been futile when I know I have those symptoms. If getting a test done is such a task for me, how difficult will it be for people who don't have the right contact of doctors or who aren't in the best of health to make such efforts, or the poor people who have to stand in long queues in govt hospitals where the risk is higher, and can't even afford the fees of private labs.

I am an actor and I lead a regular life like everyone else. All I need is a CoVid test to be done so that my family and I know we are safe or not. Is it too much to ask for ? I have been reading reports on how the Delhi govt has been declining Covid-19 testing to suppress the figures. We all know, even the wrong reports of people who are negative shown positive, which clearly indicates the inefficiency in testing. Where govt is making constant claims on having more than adequate test kits and arrangements for any emergency outbreak. This doesn't seem the case so, I thought some reports were rumors but now I am forced to believe. If getting a test done to know if a person is positive or negative is such an issue, I really don't know how the Government will help the people of Delhi.There are people who show symptoms and still do not come out in open to speak and there are people like me who wish to know the truth by getting tests done, but is the Government and the Hospitals really interested in people like us?"