TN says it sent back all defective Covid-19 testing kits

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that rapid testing kits were procured from China only after getting due approval from ICMR. Since the kits were found to be defective, they were sent back to China, it added.

The court was hearing a plea related to the procurement of poor quality rapid testing kits. The High Court, recording the submissions, closed the plea. Since the kits procured were either not working or showed
faulty data, as per ICMR directives, the kits were returned to the same vendor on April 29, submitted the State to a division bench comprising justices R Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate ML Ravi who insisted that only kits certified by National Institute of Virology in Pune or other such organisations of international repute must be used for testing.