Guwahati: Owing to the disparity in the Covid-19 testing rates in the country, the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to fix a rate for all the states.
A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and MR Shah, observed during a hearing that there should be uniformity in rates charged across all states. However, the bench stated that the prices will be fixed by the Central Government and not by the Court.
The apex court has instructed that all the states should set up a panel of experts to inspect hospitals to ensure the proper care of patients. At the same time, the Court mulled passing an order for installation of CCTV cameras in hospitals to ensure monitoring of patient care.
It may be recalled that in the last week of May, the Indian Council of Medical Research had removed its the Indian Council of Medical Research, after which states were free to negotiate with the approved laboratories and fix the cost. The high price of the tests was
Since then, the government has been working with domestic manufacturers to bring down the cost and develop kits.
Amid the efforts to cut down production costs, the ICMR recommended the use of antigen-based testing kits for diagnosis that is likely to bring down the cost of testing. However, the kit is not yet readily available in markets.
It needs mention here that a panel set up by the Union home ministry has recommended lowering the cost of isolation beds and treatment at the intensive care units at the private hospitals in New Delhi that has witnessed a massive surge in cases over the past one week.