GUWAHATI: Covid tests are burning holes in pockets of those seeking an
RT-PCR screening as private facilities have been charging beyond Rs 500, the limit set by the
state health department in April this year.
The plea from the management of over 20
private hospitals and laboratories to reconsider the health department’s directive regulating Covid test rates is yet to be entertained by the government. The rate of RT-PCR test fixed by the government in April this year (RT-PCR Rs 500 and RAT Rs 250), they said, does not even cover test kit and laboratory costs. As a result, they have been following the rates fixed in December last year (RT-PCR Rs 1,200 and RAT Rs 500).
The issue could not be resolved after a meeting between private hospitals here and the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration on Tuesday. “Laboratories have not agreed to do the tests at the rates revised this month,” a senior official of a leading private hospital told TOI.
The revised rates in April had said that home collection for RT-PCR tests would cost Rs 700 and the maximum rate chargeable for RT-PCR test at airports in Assam would be Rs 500 for all approved laboratories.
“Basically, the cost of consumables, infrastructure and manpower being much higher for us, we would like to humbly request you to reconsider your order so that we can continue to provide service to the people without any hindrance, especially in the scenario of recent increase in cases,” read the memorandum sent to principal secretary of the state health department Samir K Sinha by private
healthcare establishments and laboratories on April 5. Since then, they have been waiting for a reply before changing the rates of Covid tests in their respective establishments.
Healthcare institutions said that most of them have spent a sizeable sum in setting up the Covid laboratories and getting them accredited, including hiring of skilled manpower to do the tests. The real costs hospitals bear for TrueNAT RT-PCR test is approximately Rs 950 per test and for other CBNAAT RT-PCR technology tests approximately costs Rs 2,200 per test. Besides this, they said there are other consumables such as
PPE kits, VTM tubes, not to forget the cost of licencing.
The RT-LAMP assay test that detects SARS-CoV-2 directly from pharyngeal swab samples without previous time-consuming and laborious
RNA extraction, as well as conventional RT-PCR requires each run to have minimum three controls, to check for any possible errors, which they said takes the cost of test much higher. “RAT cost is also much higher than the capping given in your order,” the memorandum stated.