Supreme Court orders COVID-19 test to be done free
By MYBRANDBOOK
The Supreme Court has ordered the laboratories; government or private, to perform COVID-19 testing free of cost. The government has been ordered to issue the necessary directions immediately.
A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and S. Ravindra Bhat held that tests relating to COVID-19 must be carried out only in NABL accredited Labs or any agencies approved by the WHO or the ICMR.
The order was passed on a petition filed by advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi to implement free COVID-19 testing by private labs.
On April 3, the court issued notice to the government on the plea, which challenged the legality of a March 17 advisory capping the price for Coronavirus testing at Rs. 4500 in private labs and hospitals.
Advocate Sudhi had argued that the advisory was both discriminatory and a violation of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
"We find prima facie substance in the submission of petitioner that at this time of national calamity permitting private labs to charge Rs. 4500 for screening and confirmation test of COVID-19 may not be within means of a large part of population of this country and no person be deprived to undergo the COVID-19 test due to non-payment of capped amount of ₹4500,” the court observed in its order. It pointed to the government laboratories carrying out COVID-19 tests free of cost.
The court said that private hospitals, including laboratories, have an important role to play in containing the scale of the pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis. Reimbursing private labs of their expenses was a matter to be considered later on and not now, it stated.
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