The much touted Telangana Government’s free health camp for women journalists, jointly organised by the Departments of Health, Information and Public Relations, resulted in faulty medical reports, triggering panic among reporters.
The discrepancies are in reports about irregular heartbeat, high blood sugar and cholesterol and thyroid problems. Many women journalists visited other labs only to find out that the reports of the master health check-up were wrong.
‘The Pioneer’ spoke to a few journalists who had to get a retest. Over 500 women journalists took part in a 10-day health camp organized at the I&PR office.
Journalists shared their experience on condition of anonymity. A senior journalist said, “Based on the feedback that the master health check-up camp was good, I went to get the test done. I was told I have excess blood sugar. I don’t have a family history of diabetes. I went to another diagnostic centre and found out out that the report was wrong and that my blood sugar levels were normal.”
Another journalist was reportedly informed that her heartbeat was irregular and that she needs to immediately consult a cardiologist. Her family rushed her to hospital and when the doctor did tests it was found that the master health check-up report was wrong.
The panic that not only journalists but also their family members had to endure due to this report was appalling. Another journalist narrating her experience said, “The camp was well organised but the test reports were wrong. My blood sugar and cholesterol values were very high, especially triglycerides. My value was reported as 279 at the government camp but it was 129, well below the normal value of 150.
Before starting medication, I went for retests as a precaution as I never had these issues in past. I got tested at two other private labs and saw that all my parameters were normal. Both my private lab results matched. A few doctors I spoke to said that this could be because of a cheaper chemical used to identify blood parameters.”
When journalists raised the issue with officials, they got the conventional response, “We will look into it.”
Journalists pointed out that at least they should have alerted everyone who took tests to go for a retest.
Another journalist sharing her experience said,” My blood sugar levels were very high. But then i went for a test a week later at a private lab and found that it was not as high as the government camp report.”
Some young journalists who took the tests and found inflated figures ignored it. Some of the journalists also said that they didn’t find any discrepancies in their reports but definitely got a double check before starting medication.
“I had an issue and the doctor gave medicines but I approached my doctor as well who confirmed it,” said a journalist.
It may be mentioned here that 205 accredited women journalists from Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, along with another 306 women journalists working in various press and news channels who had identification cards, underwent medical tests, including blood tests, ECG, X-Ray, ultrasonography, mammogram, pap smear, eye and dental screenings and gynaecology tests at the camp.
