THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Feel that you require a Covid test? Simply walk into an approved private lab or hospital. All that a person needs to do is fill up an informed consent and declaration form and hand it to the lab in-charge. To make pre-testing procedure hassle-free, the government on Wednesday decided to discard its earlier stipulation that an approved medical practitioner’s prescription is mandatory for a person to get tested at a private facility.
“The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had on July 1 requested the states and union territories to allow laboratories to test an individual in accordance with its guidelines. It also added that no restriction should be imposed that prevents an individual from getting tested,” an officer with the health department told TNIE. In its letter to the chief secretary, ICMR also stated that early testing will help contain the virus and save lives. The decision to introduce walk-in Covid testing at private facilities comes against this backdrop, the officer said.
According to a directive issued by Health Principal Secretary Rajan Khobragade, this provision is applicable only for RT-PCR, CBNAAT, TrueNat and rapid antigen tests.“The rates to be charged by the private laboratories for each of the tests have been fixed by the government. A person may approach an approved private laboratory to undergo Covid-19 test. A prescription from a registered medical practitioner is preferred for the test but not mandatory. But an informed consent and declaration form should be signed and submitted by the person undergoing the test to the lab-in-charge,” reads an excerpt from the directive.
Labs can disclose results
The health department also made it clear that, while an informed consent and declaration form is all that is needed, a lab should collect a copy of a government-issued identity card from the person taking the test. “A walk-in kiosk (WiSK) model may be adopted by the lab. It should also ensure that the person is provided with a pre-test counselling that focuses on ways to prevent infection, services available in the government and private sector for managing Covid patients and others. Following the test, the result may be disclosed to the person who had undergone the test with proper post-test counselling, guidance and reassurance,” said the officer.
The directive also clarified that a lab-in-charge could direct a person to room isolation in their home/Covid First-Line Treatment Centre/Covid hospital as per the medical condition. However, the lab-in-charge should report the patient’s details and results on the online platform in real time and inform the district health authorities/DISHA for follow-up.