New Delhi: After giving its nod to accredited private labs to conduct tests for COVID-19 amid rising cases in the country, the ICMR has short-listed 11 private labs in the national capital for the same.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released a shortlist containing 11 prospective testing labs.
The list includes Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Dang Lab, Dr Lal Path Lab, SRL Limited (Vasant Vihar), Max Lab, SRL Limited (Okhla Road), Fortis Hospital (Shalimar Bagh), SRL Ltd (Vasant Kunj), Lifeline Diagnostics, Oncquest Laboratories, and Metropolis Healthcare.
However, it is to be noted that this is just a shortlist, and it is not clear when these labs will start testing.
Earlier yesterday, an official had said that the ICMR is likely to soon issue instructions to them to cap the price of each test between Rs 4,500 and Rs 5,000.
Read: COVID-19: Accredited private labs to conduct test for Rs 5,000
The Union health ministry had on Tuesday issued guidelines for private sector laboratories intending to initiate COVID-19 testing while the ICMR appealed to them to conduct the tests free of cost.
"It seems nobody is willing to do it free-of-cost and that is why private labs would be asked to cap the price of each test for COVID-19 between Rs 4500 and Rs 5,000," the official said.
According to reports, around 51 private laboratories across the country have approached the government to allow them to start tests for the respiratory ailment which has infected over 250 people and claimed four lives so far.
At present the ICMR has equipped 72 of its laboratories to test for the pandemic. In addition to these labs, 49 more under organisations like Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Department of Biotechnology, and Defence Research, Development Organisation would be equipped to test for coronavirus by end of this week, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said.
(With inputs from PTI)
