In response to rising complaints of people who have tested negative for Covid-19 being kept in the dark for lack of protocol, Karnataka government has instructed all labs to inform patients via SMS about their test results.

Those who went and got themselves tested for Coronavirus in Karnataka until yesterday had to rely on ‘no news is good news’. For there was no system of informing people who hadn't tested positive. And this was leading to various issues from needless ostracism to anxiety.

Until now, only those patients whose tested positive would be informed after following set protocol about their results and the health department would then undertake measures to move them to hospitals or Covid-19 care centres. But those who tested negative would be kept waiting. Complaints of anxious citizens had been answered by officials citing absence of protocol regarding the same.

In Hubballi for instance, District health officer Dr Yashwanth Madinkar had been quoted as saying that the ICMR software was only programmed to send alerts for those who test positive and that there was no protocol if the person tests negative.

But as per this circular issued by the department of health and family affairs, all labs in the state will be required to inform patients who test negative immediately.