The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that private labs would not charge Rs 4,500 as fees fixed for conducting COVID-19 test.
"The private Hospitals including Laboratories have an important role to play in containing the scale of a pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis," a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Ravindra Bhat told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The top court asked the Union government to issue necessary direction to accredited private Labs to conduct free of cost COVID-19 test. The government approved labs are already conducting the test free of cost.
The court passed its interim order in a PIL, saying question as to whether the private Laboratories carrying free of cost tests are entitled for any reimbursement of expenses would be considered later.
The court also directed that tests relating to COVID-19 must be carried out in NABL accredited labs or any agencies approved by ICMR.
A lawyer, Shashank Deo Sudhi, has filed the plea for providing free of cost testing facility for COVID-19.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for his part, submitted that as many as 15000 tests were being undertaken per day by 118 labs, which was not sufficient. So 47 private labs had to be roped in.
"As of now, more than 200 countries are suffering from this pandemic. The number of patients suffering from COVID-19 is rapidly increasing worldwide with the death toll rising rapidly. In our country, in spite of various measures taken by the Union Government and different State
Government/Union Territory the number of patients and death caused by it is increasing day by day. Our country has a very large population," the bench noted.
(Published 08 April 2020, 09:24 IST)
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