New Delhi: RT-PCR test is widely carried out to identify the virus that causes COVID-19. The varied laboratory rates have started to pinch hard those who resort to occasional or frequent tests as a matter of caution or as mandated in the case of travellers. Kerala has the highest price for RT-PCR test in India, with each test costing Rs 1,700. Odisha has the lowest rate, Rs 400.
Though labs attached to government hospitals in Kerala have been conducting the RT-PCR test for free, the delay in getting the result forces many to depend on private laboratories. Many states and foreign countries allow travelers in only on the production of COVID-negative certificates issued after the RT-PCR test.
After Kerala, the test is costlier in Tamil Nadu. It costs Rs 1,200 a test in that State, and if the sample was to be collected from home, it could cost Rs 1,500-1,700.
Delhi and Karnataka have the same price: Rs 800. For home collection, the rate would be Rs 1,200.
Frequent travellers would have to undergo the test several times, which burns a hole in their pockets.
(RT-PCR, which denotes Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, is a popular lab technique. It is primarily used to measure the amount of a specific RNA. )
No regulation
Despite the increasing daily caseload of the disease, there has been no initiative to regulate the price for the test. Government officials point at the Kerala High Court order that fixed the rate at Rs 1,700. The order was issued after private labs and hospitals moved the court, demanding a hike from the earlier Rs 1,500 per test.
Several other States, meanwhile, reduced the price for the test many times, considering the gravity of the COVID-19 situation. The Maharashtra government had intervened six times to bring down the price for a test to Rs 500.
Though the costs of reagent required for conducting the test, viral transport medium kit and personal protection equipment have come down, laboratories held the expenses of manpower and biomedical waste disposal responsible for the high fee for RT-PCR test.
Experts, meanwhile, said the government should intervene to slash the test price to increase testing since the pandemic has been spreading fast and wide.