Haryana caps RT-PCR test cost at Rs 1,600

GURUGRAM: The Haryana government on Friday reduced the price of Covid-19 RT-PCR tests to Rs 1,600 from the earlier Rs 2,400. The move will encourage more people to get themselves tested.

The order of Haryana Service Medical Corporation Limited stated that the testing charges have further reduced from Rs 2,400 to Rs 1,600. "This includes GST and other taxes, cost involved in pick-up, packaging and transportation of samples, documentation and reporting," the order read.
Rajeev Arora, the additional chief secretary of Haryana health department, said, "We keep renegotiating the rates of all supplies as the availability improves and the costs come down. In this case, we found that the cost of the kits has come down so we reduced the rates."
Apart from Haryana, private labs in states such as Odisha, Karnataka, Delhi among others have reduced the cost of RT-PCR tests. While private labs in Odisha charge only Rs 1,200 for a test, those in Karnataka and Delhi charge Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,400 respectively. Cost of a single test from a private lab in Maharastra is Rs 1,900 followed by Rs 1,600 in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, the state government also signed MoUs with six private labs in order to ramp up testing in the state. While, four of these labs are located in Gurugram, two are in Delhi. With the new addition, now the state government will have 12 private labs that are National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited and approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for testing samples for Covid-19.
Currently, Haryana has 12 government labs that are mostly in medical colleges, civil hospitals and other government institutions.
Gurugram chief medical officer Virender Yadav said, "We are closely monitoring the private labs that have been authorised to conduct RT-PCR, rapid antigen and IgG-based Elisa testing. They have been asked to follow the protocols strictly."
Last week, the Haryana government also fixed the price of rapid antigen tests at Rs 650 and capped the cost of IgG-based Elisa testing to Rs 250. The government also allowed private labs to conduct rapid antigen and IgG-based Elisa testing.
Earlier, on June 19, the state government had directed that no private labs should charge more than Rs 2,400 for a RT-PCR test.
This decision came after ICMR issued a circular on March 17 stating, "The testing kits are now being manufactured in India and are readily available." Hence, ICMR, in a letter dated May 25, asked the states to negotiate and fix mutually agreeable prices, the order added.