ICMR paves the way for walk-in tests

ICMR ADVISORY ALSO SAYS THAT STATES SHOULD TEST ALL PEOPLE IN A CONTAINMENT ZONE WITH RAPID ANTIGEN KITS

NEW DELHI: A doctor’s prescription will no longer be required for people to get a Covid-19 test, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in its revised testing advisory to states on Saturday, paving the way for walk-in tests.

The move comes after a prod by the Delhi high court that asked why people who show no symptoms of the disease – which can be a large proportion of Covid-19 patients – cannot get a test. The rule until now required people to either have flu-like symptoms or come in close contact with an infected person, following which a doctor could issue a prescription for a test.

“The new guidelines will allow people to get tested for Covid-19 without any prescription. The guidelines also say that states can have their own ‘simplified modalities’ for testing. What this means is that states cannot put in any restrictive requirements on testing. There were some states where people needed a chief medical officer or someone to certify that they needed the test; those restrictions will have to be removed,” said a senior official from the Union health ministry, asking not to be named.

“ICMR’S advisory is generic in nature and may be modified as per the discretion of state health authorities,” said the advisory. In a Delhi HC hearing over improving testing in the Capital, the ICMR stated on September 3 it was just an advisory body and states were free to make changes as per their needs.

“With the new strategy, the doctors will be a little freer in ordering testing. Influenza-like illnesses was too restrictive a category for testing, especially as many patients with Covid-19 are asymptomatic. Clinical testing or depending on a doctor’s judgement should have been allowed a long time ago. This is what is good for medical care,” said Dr Jacob John, former professor of virology at Christian Medical College in Vellore.

He added that the government should now move to an approach where patients with Covid-19-like symptoms living in an area where the disease is in transmission should be considered a positive case and treated as such.