Supreme Court orders in favour of free testing for COVID-19
In
a petition filed before it as a public interest litigation seeking to make
testing for COVID-19 free of cost, the Supreme Court on 8th
April 2020 issued interim directions and ordered that:
1. The
tests relating to COVID-19 whether in approved government laboratories or
approved private laboratories shall be free of cost and the government shall
issue necessary direction in this regard immediately.
2. The
tests relating to COVID-19 must be carried out in National Accreditation Board
for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited labs or any agencies
approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR).
The
petition was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India seeking a
direction to be issued to the government of India providing for free testing
facilities of COVID-19, both by private laboratories and government
laboratories. It further sought that a direction shall be issued providing that
all tests for COVID-19 shall be carried out by only those laboratories which
are NABL accredited or approved by WHO or ICMR.
Before
this order of the Supreme Court, the charges for screening and confirmation of
COVID-19 by private laboratories were capped at INR 4500. However, the testing
by government laboratories were being conducted for free.
The
Supreme Court agreed with the petitioners submission that, in India, despite of
the steps and efforts taken by the government the number of patients and deaths
due to COVID-19 were increasing rapidly and in this time of national crisis it
may not be feasible for a large part of the population to pay for the testing
of COVID-19. It further observed that private hospitals and laboratories shall
also play their part in containing the scale of the pandemic and do so on
humanitarian grounds. The Supreme Court said that it will be decided later
whether the private laboratories conducting free COVID-19 tests are entitled
for any reimbursement of expenses incurred by them.
The
Supreme Court further agreed with the petitioner that the tests for COVID-19
shall only be conducted by NABL accredited laboratories or any agencies
approved by ICMR and it issued necessary orders in this regard as mentioned
above.
A clarification/modification order to the above mentioned order was passed by the Supreme Court on 13 April 2020, wherein it was, inter alia, stated that:
A clarification/modification order to the above mentioned order was passed by the Supreme Court on 13 April 2020, wherein it was, inter alia, stated that:
1. Free
testing for COVID-19 shall be available only to persons eligible under Ayushman
Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, and any other category of
economically weaker sections of the society as may be notified by the
Government.
2. Government
of India may consider as to whether any other categories of the weaker sections
of the society are also eligible for the benefit of free testing and may issue
appropriate guidelines in the above regard.
3. Private
labs can continue to charge the payment for testing of COVID-19 from persons
who are able to make payment of testing fee as fixed by ICMR.
4. The
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare may issue necessary guidelines for
reimbursement of cost of free testing of COVID-19 undertaken by private labs.