LUCKNOW, May 27 -- Patients are being compelled to seek costly diagnostic services at private laboratories as hepatitis viral load testing at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) has remained suspended for the past 25 days due to a shortage of testing kits, KGMU officials said. The officials said the disruption occurred after funds meant for procurement of testing kits were not released by the National Health Mission for a prolonged period. As a result, the stock of kits was exhausted, bringing the testing process to a halt. KGMU spokesperson, Dr KK Singh said that the university administration expects fresh testing kits to arrive by the first week of June, after which the diagnostic services are likely to resume. According to KGMU officials, nearly 40 to 50 patients are advised to undergo hepatitis viral load testing every day at the tertiary care institution. Since KGMU functions as a nodal testing centre, it also receives samples from neighbouring districts, taking the daily testing load to nearly 70 to 90 samples. With testing services suspended, sample collection at the outpatient department has also been stopped. Instructions have additionally been issued to various departments not to collect further samples until fresh kits become available. htc...