‘Overcharging’ for dengue test: Gurgaon health team raids Fortis Hospital lab

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Earlier this month, the Gurgaon district health department had made it mandatory for private hospitals to charge not more than Rs 600 for dengue tests, adding they could only conduct the NS1 rapid antigen test, which picks up infection at an earlier stage and is cheaper than the NS1 Elisa test.

A spokesperson at Fortis Memorial Research Institute said the reason for overcharging was unawareness of the advisory mandating the use of only the rapid antigen test. “The rapid card test, an abbreviated test for dengue, was recently mandated by the government. This advisory was not updated with us. We ran the Elisa test, which is conclusive for dengue, accounting for the difference in the cost of the two. As this was on account of an information gap, we have offered an immediate refund. We would like to emphasise that our action to conduct the Elisa test was in the best interest of the patient,” the spokesperson added.

Dhankar, however, said action would be taken against the hospital since it was violating norms. “We will give them a notice and carry on investigations.”