New Delhi, Aug 4 (PTI) Private hospitals and laboratories on Wednesday welcomed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's announcement regarding capping of the rate of conventional RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen tests for COVID-19 detection in private hospitals and laboratories.

However, some lab owners stated that they will now have to explore suppliers who can provide testing kits at lower cost to sustain margins for backend workforce.

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Welcoming the decision Dr Bhagwan Mantri, Senior Consultant, Respiratory and Chest Medicine at Moolchand Hospital said, "RT-PCR tests are required for everything these days - for travel purposes and for hospital admissions. Capping of prices will help people in going for tests and they will not be hesitant. It will also prevent people from going in for fake test reports that are available for Rs 200-300."

The Delhi government on Wednesday put a cap on the rate of conventional RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 in private hospitals and laboratories at Rs 500. The prices of Rapid antigen tests at private facilities have been capped at Rs 300.

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In a tweet, Kejriwal said, "The Delhi government drastically reduces corona test rates. This will help the common man."

Dr Shuchin Bajaj, Founder Director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, said, "Ideally RT-PCR test should be free but this is a good step taken by the Delhi government to cut down the rates for this test and we are hoping that this step will prove our biggest weapon in the fight against Covid.

"This step also signifies that the Delhi government is speeding up preparation to stop the upcoming third wave. We welcome this decision wholeheartedly. It is an excellent step taken by our Delhi government," he said.

Chetan Kohli, COO, Genestrings Diagnostics in Malviya Nagar, also welcomed the move and said that subsidised rates will ensure more people can afford RT-PCR tests but the price cap may affect the labs' ability to manage costs that entails kits and consumables, as well as manpower, logistics among others.

"The older price was a fair and affordable price with a decent incentive for smaller labs to continue investing further in enhancing their capacity. Hence, in hindsight this price reduction may hurt the overall need to enhance capacity.

"Now, we may have to explore suppliers who are providing kits at a lower cost to ensure the margins are enough to sustain the backend workforce required to ensure adherence to the mandate -- sample collection, testing, and reporting and data upload within 24 hours," Kohli said.

Aditya Saini, Founder and CEO, CNC PATHLAB, said that it is a great move by the Delhi government when people are losing lives due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which is coming with new variant every now and then.

"Slashing down the rates of testing will encourage more people to come out and get themselves tested. Get yourself tested for Covid is the first line of defence against the disease. We are also ready to face the peak of testing with this announcement,” Saini said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)