Five private Gurugram labs get testing nod

ICMR-APPROVED PRIVATE LABS IN GURUGRAM

CHANDIGARH: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday approved five private labs in Gurugram to test potential Covid-19 patients’ samples.

Additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Rajeev Arora said these five laboratories will not charge more than ₹4,500, including ₹1,500 for screening and ₹3,000 for the confirmatory test, from patients referred by private physicians. The government will bear the testing charges for the patients referred by the civil surgeon to a private lab due to lack of capacity, officials said.

Arora said ICMR guidelines for identifying the suspects, collection of samples, transportation of samples, testing at labs i.e screening test and confirmatory test, storage and destruction of samples would apply to the private labs. The health department is also enhancing the testing capacity of the existing two labs at PGIMS, Rohtak and BPS government medical college, Khanpur, Sonepat this week.

“We are also setting up at least five coronavirus testing labs in districts of Panchkula, Mewat,

Hisar, Karnal, Sirsa. The proposed ones are at Shaheed Hasan Khan (SHK) Mewati government medical college, Nalhar in Mewat, Kalpana Chawla government medical college, Karnal, Maharaja Agrasen medical college, Agroha in Hisar, and general hospitals of Panchkula and Sirsa,’’ the ACS said.

Health officials at PGIMS, Rohtak, said the labs at PGI and government medical college for women, Khanpur Kalan which currently conducts the tests, would in the next couple of days double its capacity to conduct these tests.

Strand life sciences,

Sector 34

SRL Limited, Sector 18 Modern diagnostic and research centre,

Jawahar Nagar

Core Diagnostics,

Udyog Vihar ( Phase 3) Moiq Laboratory, Sector 18 (P), Electronic City, Udyog Vihar ( Phase 4)