On April 14, the Delhi government issued an order spelling out different reimbursement rates it would pay to private labs in the capital for testing samples sent by it for COVID infection. (Representational Image)
On April 14, the Delhi government issued an order spelling out different reimbursement rates it would pay to private labs in the capital for testing samples sent by it for COVID infection. Unusually, the order puts a condition: the reimbursements will be paid only when the labs use kits sold by Pune-based biotech company Mylab Discovery Solutions.
As of March 24, the National Institute of Virology in Pune had cleared Mylab and German Altona Diagnostics to make test kits. As of April 14, the day the order was issued, 33 firms’ labs had been cleared by ICMR for supply and validation of testing kits.
The order issued by Nursing Home Cell of the Directorate General of Health Services of Delhi government said private labs shall be paid from the COVID funds released by government of India under National Health Mission at the following rates: if the sample is taken by the private lab and Mylab kit is provided by the private lab, the cost will be Rs 4,500; if the sample is taken by the government and Mylab kit is provided by private, the cost will be Rs 3,500; and if both sample and Mylab kit are provided by the government, the cost will be Rs 2,200. Asked why only one firm was named, R N Das, Medical Superintendent, Nursing Homes, Delhi government, who issued the order, said: “We had not heard about Mylab. Whatever people tell us we do.”
Asked if private labs will be reimbursed if they use kits other than from Mylab, Das said, “Why are we talking about x kit or y kit or z kit. Whatever kit we provide, the rate is Rs 2,200.” He did not answer the specific query on government reimbursing if labs use kits other than Mylab kits.
Mylab managing director Hasmukh Rawal said: “I don’t think that should be there (naming Mylab in the order). It might be the case the government is procuring Mylab kits and giving them free of cost… Instead of Mylab kit, the order should have stated COVID-19 kit. It can’t be Mylab. I am 100% percent sure. Because we don’t have any such order of a state for supply of any kit to anybody. We don’t have any agreement and no government can write a specific company name. There is no such thing of favouring the company. It should be a typo or mistake. It might have been that when they released the order, Mylab was the only company providing the kits. Definitely, the official who has passed the order has made a mistake.”
However, a private lab said it was now using only Mylab kits. “Our lab has been using other kits available in the market. These kits will continue to be used where samples are not being sent by the government. However, for samples being sent by Delhi government, now we are only using Mylab kits due to the order,” the owner of the private lab said.
On April 3, Mylab announced it had joined hands with Serum Institute of India and AP Globale (whose chairman Abhijit Pawar is cousin of Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar) to increase production of kits used in COVID-19 diagnosis. Serum Institute’s Adar Poonawala and Pawar invested Rs 50 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively in Mylab through compulsory convertible debenture.
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The order assumes significance given the expected ramping up of testing. By April 14, when the order was issued, Delhi had tested 16,282 samples — 17% of these were tested in private labs. By April 28, private labs had tested almost 16,000 of the total 47,225 samples.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain did not respond to calls seeking a comment.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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On April 14, the Delhi government issued an order spelling out different reimbursement rates it would pay to private labs in the capital for testing samples sent by it for COVID infection. (Representational Image)
