Will the Minister of Health and Family Welfare be pleased to state:
a) whether the Government has fixed prices for RT-PCR and other tests required for ascertaining COVID- 19 disease and if so, the details thereof;
b) whether the Government has also instructed States/UTs in this regard; and
c) whether any Committee has been formed to audit all laboratory bills pertaining to COVID-19 and if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTERY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)
(a) to (c)
Health is a State subject. Government of India has provided the required technical support and has also supported the states through logistic and financial support to further strengthen the existing health infrastructure to tackle COVID-19 pandemic. Certain states have accordingly fixed prices for RT-PCR and other tests.
A number of initiatives have been taken by Union Ministry of Health to improve accessibility to COVID-19 testing, to cover even the far flung and hilly areas. Starting with just one laboratory for testing of samples for COVID-19, the network of existing laboratories has been expanded vastly to test samples for COVID-19. As of 30th July 2021, a total of 2804 laboratories have been approved for COVID-19 Testing. Besides the Gold Standard RT-PCR (in 1715 labs), TrueNat (in 941 labs), CBNAAT (in 130 labs) techniques and other testing platform (in 18 labs) are also being used for testing. In addition, Rapid Antigen testing is being utilized for point of care testing in containment zones and in hospital settings. Those found positive by this test are considered as ‘true positives’. Those symptomatic found negative should be sequentially tested by RT-PCR.
COVID-19 testing, and treatment is being provided free of cost to patients in all Government facilities. In addition, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY health assurance scheme provides health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crores poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries). Packages for ‘Testing for COVID-19’ and ‘Treatment of COVID-19’ were also notified on 4th April 2020.