Govind Sharma
JAMMU, July 29: J&K Government today fixed a ceiling of Rs 2400 for RT-PCR based COVID-19 test in private labs throughout the Union Territory.
“No private laboratory should charge any amount more than Rs 2400 for RT-PCR Test for COVID-19 inclusive of GST/Taxes if any and cost involved in pickup, packing and transportation of samples, documentation and reporting in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” said a notification issued today by J&K Government.
The notification to cap the price of COVID-19 tests came up following complaints by some individuals and RTI activists that private labs in the UT are charging different rates for same COVID-19 test on various pretexts such as inclusion of GST/taxes, cost involved in transportation of samples, documentation etc.
The issue was taken seriously by the UT administration as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Government’s nodal agency dealing with the pandemic, last month asked States and the Union Territories to fix a price for COVID-19 test in the wake of drop in cost of testing kits. Earlier, ICMR has capped price of COVID-19 test at Rs 4500.
Director Health Services Jammu, Dr Renu Sharma said that in Jammu, three labs viz Dr Lal Path , SRL Diagnostics and Swastik have been authorized by the ICMR to conduct COVID-19 test. She informed that earlier, all these labs were charging Rs 4500 for per test but after ICMR directions, “we negotiated with these laboratories and the cost of per test was fixed at Rs 2400. All these labs are now charging Rs 2400 for per COVID-19 test.”
“We started conducting COVID-19 test from July 9 after getting Government permission and were charging Rs 4500 per test but since July 20 we are charging Rs 2400 only per test, as agreed with the local health authorities,” said Bansi Lal Sharma, proprietor, Swastik Lab.
Javed Iqbal, Franchisee owner, SRL Diagnostics, Gandhi Nagar branch, said that they are also charging Rs 2400 per test, including all taxes and expenses after the instructions of the Health Department.
In the notification issued today, Government has asked the private laboratories authorized to conduct COVID-19 tests to follow all the testing protocols as laid down by ICMR and the Government of India from time to time. The private laboratories have been further directed to share data pertaining to the results of COVID-19 tests with the Government and ICMR on a real time basis through ICMR portal.
The direction has also been passed to note identification, address and verified mobile number of the patient and upload the same on the RT-PCR app at the time of taking the sample. The laboratories have also been asked to share all positive test reports immediately with the Chief Medical Officer of the concerned district through email.
Government has further directed the designated laboratories to display rates in visible manner and maintain the information of the patient with utmost confidentiality. They were further instructed to preserve the RT-PCR machine generated data for future verification by the Government.
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