Mobile lab set up at ICMR HQ to offer free RT-PCR tests

New Delhi: In a significant initiative to make RT-PCR tests affordable for the residents of Delhi, home minister Amit Shah on Monday launched a mobile testing laboratory at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) headquarters here that will offer these tests free of cost to the public. The results of the tests will also be faster, taking an average 6-8 hours from the time of sample collection instead of the usual 24-48 hours taken to receive an RT-PCR report.

ICMR, which will fully bear the Rs-499 cost of an RT-PCR test taken at the mobile labs, plans to set up 10 of these labs in the first phase, with each lab initially testing up to 1,000 samples a day and then slowly ramping it up to 3,000 samples per day per lab (30,000 tests a day).

“This testing lab and more such labs which are planned to be set up, shall help in adding more capacity to Covid-19 testing...This initiative is a step in making Covid-19 testing affordable and more accessible to the common person. The test report would be available within 6 to 8 hours from the time of sample collection, compared to the average 24 to 48 hours taken by similar test reports,” said a home ministry release.

An RT-PCR test -- considered “gold standard” for Covid testing, being more decisive than rapid antigen tests -- done at a private laboratory or hospital in Delhi currently costs Rs 2,400. However, the same test, if taken at the mobile testing laboratory, will cost just Rs 499, which shall also be fully borne by ICMR.

The mobile Covid-19 RT-PCR lab inaugurated by Shah at the ICMR facility here is the outcome of a joint venture of SpiceHealth and ICMR. The lab is accredited by NABL and approved by the ICMR. SpiceHealth has signed a memorandum of understanding with ICMR for setting up testing facilities and collection centres across the country. To begin with, the first testing facility has been set up in Delhi. More such testing facilities will come up in different parts of the national capital over the coming days.

Present at the inauguration of the mobile testing lab by Shah here on Monday was Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, ICMR director general Balram Bhargava, CMD of SpiceJet Ajay Singh and CEO of SpiceHealth Avani Singh.