E-Paper
UP slashes rate of RT-PCR test. Here’s what it costs in other states
State governments have been capping prices of Coronavirus tests since the beginning of the pandemic,the latest to join this long list is none other than Uttar Pradesh
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday reduced the price of RT-PCR test to detect the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) by private laboratories at ₹700 and said it will cost ₹900 if done at home. State governments can decide the rates of various Covid-19 testing methods, including the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, which is considered to be the gold standard by medical professionals all over the world.
Here is what they cost in these states:
Delhi
The Delhi government has capped the price of RT-PCR tests at ₹800 for all private laboratories, reducing the amount from ₹2,400.
Gujarat
The Gujarat government has reduced the price of RT-PCR tests conducted by private laboratories for Covid-19 to ₹800 from ₹1,500. The charge for the RT-PCR test will be ₹1,100 if a laboratory assistant is called at home to collect samples.
Maharashtra
The price for an RT-PCR test is ₹980 for tests carried out in labs and at ₹1,800 for in-house sample collections in the western state.
Andhra Pradesh
The Andhra Pradesh government has fixed the price for testing samples sent to private labs at ₹1600 bringing it down from ₹2400. For people giving samples directly at the Indian Council of Medical Research-recognised labs, the rates have been capped at ₹1,900.
Telangana
For samples collected at private labs, the price for RT-PCR tests has been fixed at ₹850, a revision from the previous ₹2,200. For samples collected at home, prices have been slashed to ₹1,200 from the earlier ₹2,800. All the revised prices are inclusive of charges for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and others.
Kerala
The Kerala government has slashed the rates of all available tests to detect the coronavirus disease. The RT-PCR tests now cost ₹2,100, it was capped at ₹2,750 earlier. TrueNat tests are capped at ₹2,100, antigen test cost at ₹625, and GeneXpert at ₹2,500.
West Bengal
The West Bengal government capped the price of RT-PCR tests in the state at ₹1,500, for tests done by private labs. It was marked at ₹2,250 earlier.
Jharkhand
Jharkhand has capped RT-PCR test prices for private hospitals and labs at ₹1,500. This was the second such intervention by the State government, who had earlier brought down the prices of RT-PCR tests from ₹4,500 to ₹2,400.
Meghalaya
The state government has capped the prices of all available tests, for rapid tests at ₹500, and for RT-PCR and TrueNat at ₹3,200 each. BPL card holding families were exempted from any sort of payment.
Assam
Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced a ‘tatkal’ system of RT-PCR tests in Assam. If patients shelled out ₹2,200 the results will be given within 24 hours, for the results of the free test would be given out after five days.
Rajasthan
The state government has slashed the prices for RT-PCR tests carried out by private laboratories at ₹1,200 from the earlier cost of ₹2,200.
