NEW DELHI: Decks have been cleared for lowering the cost of private testing for Covid-19 with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) today scrapping the Rs 4,500 upper price ceiling earlier fixed for the private lab testing.
In a letter to all state chief secretaries, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava has advised each one to renegotiate the prices of private lab testing following a huge potential for cost reduction due to development of local testing capacities.
“At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic there was a global crisis of testing kits and reagents, as India was heavily reliant on imported products…. the situation has changed and there is now a lot of competition available locally that would drive down the cost of private tests,” Bhargava said.