Panic at PMC as data error turns COVID-19 negative clerk into positive case
by Prachee KulkarniCops had been calling the disaster mgmt cell employee for days, leaving him confused
A mistake in data entry created panic at Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for a few hours on Wednesday, after it was reported that an employee of the disaster management cell tested positive for COVID-19, but continued duty. Officials rushed to make enquiries, only to find that the said staffer had tested negative, and the fault lay in data entry. Meanwhile, the employee, 51-year-old Ramdas Kale (name changed), is still getting calls from cops, asking if he is in quarantine. Now, the PMC health department has raised the issue with senior officials.
Earlier this week, Kale was shocked to receive a call from the police, asking for his whereabouts, claiming he is COVID-19-positive. The senior clerk panicked as he had been told he had tested negative and could continue to work. He cross-verified his test report from ward officers at Dhole Patil Road, and was only confused further. He shared, “One of our colleagues tested positive, so we were tested, too. On Tuesday, I was confirmed as negative for the virus, but just hours later, cops called me. None of my peers got calls. A copy of my report confirmed my status. Yet, since three days, police call me thrice a day.”
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Panic spread as a cop told the PMC health department that a positive staffer is working amid them. They immediately scanned data and found that Kale tested positive. A senior health official looking after contact tracing said, “I called Kale and asked why he was putting others at risk, including senior officials on their visits to the cell. He sent me the negative report copy, which I verified with the ward office. Turns out, there was a data entry error. It caused quite a panic for a couple hours. I have now written to senior authorities highlighting this issue.”
PMC chief Shekhar Gaikwad said, “People need to be careful about data entry. These mistakes are happening everywhere. If an address is not proper, tracing becomes problematic. We want data entry to be done with precision. We also shifted operators to the Smart City control centre. A doctor there ensures that medical term entries are correct. Such mistakes shouldn’t happen.”
In photos: As cases surge in Pune, Punekars embrace lockdown
While the Mumbai Municipal Corporation continues to top the chart when it comes to the highest number of cases reported from the state, the Pune Municipal Corporation comes second after reporting 243 cases on Tuesday. Currently, 3,66,242 people are under home quarantine and 18,678 people are under institutional quarantine. The following visuals are from the Rajiv Gandhi slum in Shivaji nagar, which is classified as a Red Zone. Photo by Nikhil Ghorpade/MMCL
