The Supreme Court of India in a major decision ordered private medical labs across the country to not charge patients for testing for Covid 19. As per Supreme Court, tests relating to Covid-19 whether in approved government laboratories or approved private laboratories shall be free of cost.
The court added that coronavirus tests must be carried out in NABL-accredited labs or any agencies approved by the WHO or ICMR. The apex court also said that the issue of whether the labs will be reimbursed by the government will be decided later.
"Private hospitals including laboratories have an important role to play in containing the scale of the pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis," the Supreme Court observed.
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The central government on March 21 recommended private laboratories to keep the maximum price up to Rs 4,500 for each COVID-19 test. Even a notification was issued by the Union Health Ministry on the night of 21 March. According to the guidelines, a maximum of Rs 4,500 can be recovered for checking the coronavirus infection. Under this, no more than Rs 1,500 can be taken for a screening test of a suspected patient. If the screening test results are positive and need to be re-examined for confirmation, then 3,000 thousand rupees can be taken for this. The order issued by the Union Health Ministry said that legal action will be taken against the violator.