Like other states, TamilNadu should also reduce the price for Covid-19 testing - MP PR Natarajan!

Coimbatore: Covid-19 was declared a pandemic and has not yet been completely eradicated.

With Covid-19 testing kits being available at a large quantity in Tamilnadu like other states, it is only relevant that the pricing for the Covid-19 testing kits must also be reduced like other states said PR Natrajan MP.

Talking to media about this, MP PR Natarajan said that,"Tamilnadu like most other states is using the PCR test to identify the Covid-19 infected patients. But we also are paying an unbelievable pricing of INR 3000 to 3500 per test to the private labs for every test. We are paying more compared to other states."

MP PR Natarajan also said that "It is understandable that the pricings were around INR 4,500 to 6000 when Covid-19 cases were more in number during early stages. Later the Indian Medical Foundation declared that the maximum pricing should be kept under INR 3,000. But since the new number of cases are on the decline now, Tamilnadu should also reduce the amount spent for private labs testing Covid-19 like Telangana and Gujarat who pay INR 850 and 800 respectively."

He also said that other state governments like Andra Pradesh and Karnataka are now paying INR 1,600 to private labs for testing and that the Tamilnadu government has failed to reduce the cost spent for private labs. Reducing the pricing on Covid-19 testing is a major step in the prevention of the pandemic as that will increase the number of testings done. With the tests available at a lower rate more tests can be taken now for the same cost we initially spent on one test.

Further speaking MP PR Natarajan also said that government labs and private labs should work together to do more testing. With the population of Tamilnadu being around 8 Crores, the government has done only about 1.18 Crores. With 90% of the tests being done at the government labs it is quite important that the pricing in private testing should be reduced so that more tests can be done rather than paying 15 times more for one test.

MP PR Natarajan also said that " Tamilnadu has 221 Covid-19 testing labs and only 67 of those labs belong to the government of Tamilnadu. So with the remaining 154 labs being private, it is equally important for the labs also to charge less which enables more public to take the test and get their results quickly.

Finally he also said this issue worries him deeply as the Tamilnadu government has no focus on reducing the pricing for PCR tests.