AAP leader urges Harsh Vardhan to make COVID-19 testing facility flexible

Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh writes to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan urging him to do away with stringent Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines regarding COVID-19 testing facility. Sanjay Singh wants the procedure to become more flexible to facilitate more testing in the state.

New Delhi: AAP leader Sanjay Singh wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, urging him to do away with the stringent guidelines of the ICMR for making COVID-19 testing facility flexible.

Singh requested him to provide more licenses to the pathological labs and to give more testing kits to the state governments.

AAP leader urges Harsh Vardhan to make COVID-19 testing facility flexible

"More than 3 lakh people are affected as per the official records. In such a situation, testing is the key and we have to increase testing. But in India, testing can only happen as per the guidelines of the ICMR. I believe that this procedure should stop and the testing for COVID-19 should be done similar to any other pathological test," he said in the letter.

"I have written a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today, urging him to do away with the stringent guidelines of the ICMR for making the testing facility flexible. I have requested him to provide more licenses to pathological labs and to give more testing kits to the state governments. If a person feels that they have symptoms, they should immediately go to a nearby lab and get tested," Singh told reporters.

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He said there is a false narrative being made about the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi.

"We are testing over 12,000 people per million in Delhi and that is why we are able to find out more positive patients. We should do away with such blame games and if the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) guidelines are changed, any person will be able to get tested. Till the time people do not know whether they are positive or not, the spread of the virus cannot be contained," Singh said.

With 2,137 fresh instances, the total number of coronavirus cases rose to 36,824 in Delhi, the health department''''s bulletin said on Friday. Seventy-one deaths were reported as the toll reached 1,214.

(With inputs from PTI)