As calls to increase the scope and scale of testing for the coronavirus grow louder, the Union government has decided to authorise accredited private laboratories to test for SARS-CoV-2. Until now, only 63 government testing centres across India have been allowed to conduct the tests.
Dr Balram Bhargava, the Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told Times of India that 50-60 private labs that are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL) will be allowed to carry out COVID-19 testing. What this means is that the capacity for testing which is currently around 6000 per day can now significantly increase with private labs.
Speaking to TNM, Dr A Velumani, Promoter, MD, CEO and Chairman of Thyrocare, which has diagnostic labs across India, said, “A meeting had been called by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. They have recommended a few labs and this has to be approved by ICMR. We are told by (Tuesday) evening these approvals will be through.”
Dr Velumani explained that each state in India has to recommend a few private laboratories, which will then have to be authorised by ICMR. He, however, pointed out that training is required before private labs can take on testing, with isolation of patients being paramount given the virus is highly contagious. “The labs which are authorised should have infrastructure to run tests and should have expertise to collect specimens. The labs should also know where the samples should be collected, and to keep the patient at a distance. A lot of training is needed.”
He also noted that there are two major blocks as far as private lab testing is concerned. “None of the reagents (substance used in chemical analysis) are made in India and have to be imported. We don’t know how long it will take to get it, given that they are biological specimens,” said Dr Velumani. He also said that as far as the testing kits go, the government should inform labs on which kits to import, based on the quality. “We can’t go by the claims of the vendor. There is also a procedure to get kits from the National Institute of Virology. But it takes three months. They should expedite and clear this to ensure that kits are available within a three to five day period.”
The Thyrocare promoter said that while the ecosystem to allow testing by private players needs to be fine tuned, his labs can begin testing for the coronavirus as early as Monday. “Once training is sufficient, we can do 1000 tests per day,” he said.
While testing for SARS-CoV-2 is free for patients in government labs, ToI reported that it costs the exchequer Rs 5000 to Rs 6500 for each test. As far as private labs are concerned, Dr Velumani said it is important that the government fix the rate. “Business will be the agenda for private labs. How fair they are to the patient is the policy of the management. The government should say what the cost of the reagent is. They should ensure that the seller of the reagent isn’t greedy. The government should fix a rate for labs and control the price. Otherwise labs in remote parts of the country will start charging exorbitantly,” argued Dr Velumani.
A source at a private hospital in Chennai told TNM, “If hospitals are allowed to do testing, we will be taking it on. We need to get permission. Ideally, testing should be done in a safe and secluded place.” He also added that kits are available in the market, “We can get it from Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Korea.”
However, these imported diagnostic kits will require government approval. The polymerase chain reaction tests (RT-PCR) is the only test that can determine whether a person has contracted SARS-CoV-2.