Supreme Court Tells Centre Not to Allow Private Labs to Charge High Amount For Coronavirus Testing, Asks Government to Create Effective Mechanism For Reimbursement

New Delhi, April 8: The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Centre that it should not let private laboratories to charge high amount for coronavirus testing. The top court also asked the central government to create an effective mechanism to reimburse hospitals and private labs for COVID-19 testing. In reply, Solicitor General (SG), Tushar Mehta said that the government would look into it and try to devise what could be done best. Coronavirus Testing Almost Doubled in April, Nearly 90,000 Samples Tested So Far: Report.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Ravindra Bhat, while hearing a plea challenging high rates charged by private labs for testing, said, “Don't let private labs charge high amount. You can create an effective mechanism for reimbursement from government for tests.”  The PIL was filed by Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi. The advocate filed the plea to seek direction from the top court to the government to make COVID-19 testing free across the country. Coronavirus Outbreak in Kerala: Two Including 19-Year-Old Test Positive For COVID-19 Despite Being Asymptomatic in Pathanamthitta.

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The Centre roped in private labs for COVID-19 testing as the number of positive cases started to increase at a rapid rate. According to reports, around 35 chains of private labs are conducting the tests.

On Wednesday, India reported 773 new cases and 10 new deaths in the last 24 hours. It is the highest number of positive cases in a single day. Till now, 5194 people have been tested positive for coronavirus. The death toll also jumped to 149 on April 8. Currently, there are 4,643 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2020 02:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).