Covid-19 tests to cost Rs 700 in Gurugram

The Haryana health department on Wednesday revised the price of Covid-19 tests for the fifth time since March, capping the rate for RT-PCR tests at private labs,

The Haryana health department on Wednesday revised the price of Covid-19 tests for the fifth time since March, capping the rate for RT-PCR tests at private labs, hospitals and designated collection centre at Rs 700.

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Sample collection from residences would continue to cost Rs 900, which has been in effect since October 29, according to the order issued by Rajeev Arora, additional chief secretary, health department, on the revised testing rates on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, at least 5,005 tests were administered, of which 4,342 were RT-PCR and 663 were rapid antigen tests. As many as 436 new Covid-19 infections and three Covid-related deaths were recorded on the day.

The Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is considered the gold standard test for detecting Covid-19. The costs of other tests to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the body, such as antigen test (Rs 500) antibody test (Rs 250), TrueNat (Rs 1250) and CBNAAT (Rs 2,400) continue to remain the same.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, said, “The proposal for the separate testing charges for home collection and samples taken at labs and hospitals was discussed with private labs a long time ago. In hospitals, Covid-19 tests for inpatient department (IPD) and outpatient department (OPD) will cost Rs 700.”

According to him, the state is continuing with Rs 900 for home collection as it will cover the cost of kits, consumables and manpower, among other charges.

Over time, private labs have raised the issue that reduced testing price fails to cover the overall cost incurred in administering the Covid-19 test. However, officials of the health department reiterated that testing charges are reduced based on the rates of the RT-PCR kits, which has been consistently declining.

Dr Rishabh Rajput, director – Covid-19, Modern Diagnostics, said, “Every day, the number of home collection of samples is limited, while the footfall of people at the lab remains high. The revised charges will not affect the current operations of the lab.”

The state health department for the first time slashed the RT-PCR testing charge on June 16. From Rs 4,500, which was the upper limit of the RT-PCR charges fixed by the Indian Council of Medical Research in March, the testing cost was brought down to Rs 2,400 in June. It was reduced to Rs 1,600 on August 29, then to Rs 1,200 on October 2 and further to Rs 900 on October 29.

“Currently, the state has the lowest Covid-19 testing cost in Delhi-NCR. It will motivate people to come forward for testing due to affordability,” said Yadav.