The Department of Biotechnology on Tuesday approved the inclusion of six private genomic-sequencing labs in the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a network of labs tasked by the government to sequence Covid samples. Four of the labs are from Bengaluru.
The city labs are Strand Life Sciences, Genotypic Technologies, Medgenome, and Eurofins Genomics India Pvt Ltd, according to an official memorandum from the Ministry of Science and Technology.
However, their inclusion is subject to certain conditions. The sequencing costs are to be met by the private laboratory and charges cannot be levied on patients. The labs will be required to indicate the source of funding in order to undertake sequencing activities.
Sequencing information will be confidential and not shared with any third party, media or the public. The private labs will preserve the RNA samples for a specific period, among other terms and conditions, to ensure the quality of sequencing.
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