Coronavirus: Day after ICMR asks private labs to do tests free, they reach out to govt

Explained: Why ICMR will not expand coronavirus tests: Not rational given India size

Diagnosing COVID-19 for free without such relaxations may not be a viable model for these firms, as they will have to bear logistics, manpower and testing costs on their own, according to some representatives of private labs.

ICMR chief Balram Bhargava had on Tuesday said that firms would have to procure certain ingredients – known as reagents – to perform these tests on their own. This includes importing the probes, which the government is getting from Germany.

“The limiting step for engaging labs is the probes,” Bhargava said. He said probes procured by the government would be distributed among the government’s own testing labs, and that private firms would have to procure their own.

“ICMR strongly appeals that private laboratories should offer COVID19 diagnosis at no cost,” the latest strategy of Covid-19 testing in India released on Tuesday stated.

An executive of a private diagnostic lab said on the condition of anonymity: “We are asking for a few clarifications. We are trying to find out what they mean by a free test. We have asked (ICMR) if they can give us the reagents – the primers, probes and the sample that is extracted. Then we will do the testing, and we will do it completely free.”

“Talks with the government are going on,” this executive said.

An executive with another diagnostic facility said the firm is seeking similar clarity from the government.

Healthians, a doorstep diagnostic firm, plans to engage at least four of its network labs in the country that match the government’s criteria for COVID-19 testing facilities. However, the firm feels that with the manpower and logistics costs involved, including protective gear that the person collecting the sample will require, the cost of some elements of the test should be subsidised or made free to ensure viability.

“I don’t think this is a viable model right now, because if you look at the cost of the test, it is quite high. There is a manpower deployed, you need the reagents (like primers and probes) and there is no subsidy provided for that at this stage,” Healthians CEO Deepak Sahni said.

He said, “We can assure that we will be working round-the-clock, use our manpower and extend all possible support. However, the reagents and supplies could be given by the government. That way, the labs can at least go into a no-profit or zero-margin model to perform these tests, because the costs will already be involved in the manpower and in collecting the samples.”