Pvt labs begin free tests with caution

NEWDELHI: Private laboratories, which have been asked to conduct Covid-19 tests for free, say they are following the Supreme Court order for now while also exploring legal options.

After the interim court order on Wednesday, sector leaders say they burnt the midnight oil and are collaborating with each other to formulate an action plan, maintaining that conducting free tests will not be financially viable for them.

The top court has made tests for the coronavirus disease in government and private laboratories free, and asked the government to pass the necessary orders so as to make this possible. The tests are already free in government laboratories. Private laboratories used to charge ~4,500 for the currently used RT-PCR tests. The antibody tests that many states will start using l ater t his week were expected to cost less. Private labs, however, have not been allowed to do rapid testing.

The tests should be free of cost and no person should be deprived of Covid-19 tests due to non-payment of money, the Supreme Court had said in an interim order on Wednesday, not i ng t hat a l a r g e part o f India’s population may not have the means to afford such tests.

“Under the current circumstances, since it is a Supreme Court order, we are doing tests free for the time being. However, we are taking to our lawyers, and talking among ourselves, and even with the government to see what can be the way out,” says Arvind Lal, c h a i r man a n d manag i n g director of Dr Lal Pathlabs, one of the private sector players allowed to carry out such tests.

There are 139 government laboratories and 65 private ones that currently authorised.