Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 30: The Kashmir Private Diagnostic Centers Association (KPDCA) today urged the government to amend the registration policy and expedite the registration process of over 2000 diagnostic labs that have been waiting since 2019.
The spokesperson for the association, speaking at a press conference here, said that out of the 2400 diagnostic labs, the administration has only registered 175 in the last two years, with the registration of the remaining labs still pending. “All the labs have applied for registration in their respective districts, but the majority of them have failed to do so,” he said.
He added that an “unreasonable hike” in sanitation fees discourages them from registering their labs on the registration portal.” The registration portal asks for a sanitation fee, which has increased from 2400 to 24000, which is around 200 times higher,” he said, adding that during COVID 19, they were hailed as heroes, but now the administration is treating them badly.
In addition, he said, they have to pay Rs. 12000 separately for biomedical waste. “Why are we being asked to pay such a large sum?” We request that the SMC commissioner investigate the situation. From 2018 to the present, we have been suffering, “he said.
He said that the administration has asked that an MBBS doctor should be available at a general lab, which is also a big hurdle in registration.
“From 1947 to 2019, we have been running the diagnostic association and centres, and no other director or CMO has pressed us to bring in an MBBS doctor. We have kept doctors in large centres where pathological or microbiological tests are performed, “he said, adding that they believe that if the rules are not changed, nearly 90% of diagnostic centres will close.
He said that they had not received any response to the provisional files they had sent six months ago. “We went to the director last week, who assured us that we would get certificates in one week, but we have received nothing,” he said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
