HC seeks govt response on plea challenging price cap on RT-PCR tests

The Delhi high court on Friday sought the response of the Delhi government on a plea which challenged the government’s decision to cap the price of RT-PCR tests

The Delhi high court on Friday sought the response of the Delhi government on a plea which challenged the government’s decision to cap the price of RT-PCR tests done by private labs at ₹ 800 on the grounds that the limit was set arbitrarily and without due consultations with the stakeholders

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Justice Navin Chawla issued a notice to the Delhi government on the plea filed by the Association of Practising Pathologists, through advocate Neeraj Grover.

The plea said the Delhi government while capping the charges for RT-PCR molecular based testing, had not taken into account the three different methods of testing -- RT-PCR (open system), CBNAAT and TRUNAT -- all loosely referred to as RT-PCR molecular tests in general parlance. The petitioner said these tests differ in their respective sensitivity as well as other factors.

Grover told the court that the three tests differ on specificity, turnaround time and the cost involved. He said the capabilities of various labs in private sector to conduct such tests also differ on account of infrastructure and capital requirements.

“While the costs to labs for doing an RT-PCR (open system) tests is around ₹1,200, the cost of a TRUNAT is around ₹2,000 and CBNAAT test is around ₹3,500,” the petition said.

During the hearing, advocate Ramesh Singh, standing counsel of Delhi government, told the court that the price was capped only for the RT-PCR test, which is a molecular test, and not for CBNAAT and TRUNAT which are cartridge-based tests, while agreeing that all three tests are different.

The government, also represented by the additional standing counsel, said a similar matter was pending in the Supreme Court and hence the plea should not be entertained. It said the petitioner did not give even a representation to the government highlighting their grievances and directly approached the court.

After hearing brief arguments, the court issued a notice to the government seeking to know its stand.

The plea by the association of over 240 practising pathologists said the Delhi government had failed to appreciate that the order of capping the price of the test is a “regressive” step as it was forcing path labs to do important investigations by using cheap RT-PCR open system kits which provides inaccurate results.

The petition also said the Delhi government is not making timely payment of lab bills. It said most of the private labs which have committed their substantial capacity to the Delhi government and have been doing tests for them, have not been paid for doing tests for over two months while the vendors and manufacturers of kits demand an 100% advance for supplying the consumables.

“Even the salaries of the staff and additional charges for Covid duties are being paid regularly. In such circumstances, the finances of the labs involved in Covid testing are draining quickly,” the plea read.

The matter would be now heard on February 25.