Coronavirus pandemic | Reduce price of COVID-19 test, Rs 4,500 cap not applicable now: ICMR to states

Private laboratories have maintained that with the Rs 4,500 upper ceiling, they have not been able to recover expenses

Moneycontrol News

May 26, 2020 / 16:13 IST

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While private laboratories have repeatedly claimed that Rs 4,500 price cap for COVID -19 test is one of the reasons behind low testing, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) wants to reduce the price even more, reported The Indian Express.

According to ICMR, unlike March, today there's ample of alternative testing kits and supplies which can be used. Hence, the price should be revised accordingly.

"Testing supplies are stabilising and due to the availability of a variety of testing materials and kits, including indigenous ones, the prices are becoming competitive and are undergoing reduction. Considering these developments and the evolving prices of the testing kits, the earlier suggested upper ceiling of Rs 4,500 may not be applicable now. Hence, all state governments and UT administrations are advised to negotiate with private laboratories and fix up mutually agreeable prices for samples being sent by the government and also for private individuals desirous of testing by these labs," Dr Balram Bhargava, Director-General of ICMR wrote in a letter addressed to states.

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"At the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, there was a paucity of testing kits as India was heavily reliant on imported products for the detection of the novel coronavirus. Considering the cost of imported kits, the ICMR had suggested Rs 4,500 as the upper limit of a single test," Bhargava wrote.

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Coronavirus pandemic | Reduce price of COVID-19 test, Rs 4,500 cap not applicable now: ICMR to states

Private laboratories have maintained that with the Rs 4,500 upper ceiling, they have not been able to recover expenses

Representative image

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