Some relief: Rapid PCR test at Delhi airport to cost Rs 3,500 now, not Rs 3,900

NEW DELHI: A rapid PCR test at Delhi airport will now cost Rs 3,500, about 10% less than Rs 3,900 earlier.

A number of passengers had been complaining about the price of the rapid test.

Asked about the same, Chetan Kohli, COO of Genestrings Diagnostics which conducts tests at IGIA and is a part of Ghaziabad’s Yashoda Hospitals, had on Wednesday told TOI: “It (lowering cost) has been contemplated but it is not steep as a function of the input (costs). We have 350 people handling only rapid on arrival tests. Adding the rapid tests required for going to Dubai, we have more people for that. Then there are others costs like that of machinery, swabs and reagents.”

“The rapid kits are very, very expensive, costing upwards of Rs 2,000. There has been a slight price reduction since the second wave. They come from an MNC who have not reduced prices (recently) despite us being the biggest buyers in the country,” Kohli had said, adding travellers abroad pay about “Euro 200 (Rs 17,000)” for the same test.