Charge only Rs 1,200 for RT-PCR test, Haryana tells Delhi private labs

GURUGRAM: A day after Haryana reduced the price of RT-PCR tests from Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,200, the state on Saturday asked Delhi private labs to charge Rs 1,200 from Haryana residents. Earlier, private labs in Haryana used to charge over Rs 4,500 for an RT-PCR test but on June 19, it put a cap on it and asked all private labs to not charge more than Rs 2,400. On September 1, this was further reduced to Rs 1,600.

Orders were also issued to all private labs in the city to follow the new notification and charge accordingly. “All Delhi private labs that have collection centres in Gurugram are directed to charge Rs 1,200 from Haryana residents. We have also issued an order to all private labs in the city,” said Gurugram chief medical officer Dr Virender Yadav. He added that action will be taken if labs are found violating the order.

Meanwhile, health officials said that the revision is likely to bring down testing in the coming days.

“Several labs have reached out to us expressing their concern over the slashed RT-PCR rate more so when several patients are opting for home testing,” said a senior official from the health department.

Anand K, CEO of SRL Diagnostics, said, “There are associated costs which are not factored in the recent revision such as cost of sample collection, viral transport media, logistics, biomedical waste management, staffing costs, data entry and 24X7 operational cost. All this makes home collection unviable in the current scenario, unless there’s an additional charge for home visit approved by the state. Having said that, we are working closely with the government and we will raise our concern.”