KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected a plea of private labs challenging the recent decision of the State government to reduce the cost of RT-PCR COVID-19 test from Rs 1,700 to Rs 500.
The court said that prima facie the government has arrived at rates of RT-PCR tests after conducting a market study.
Noting that the charges in many of the other States in the country, including Haryana, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, were within the same range, Justice N Nagaresh said, "Therefore, I do not find any reason to pass an interim order."
Counsel for the Kerala government informed the court there were several complaints that the rate of the RT-PCR tests in the State was the highest in the country at Rs 1,700.
He pointed out that the labs in many other other States in the country were charging only Rs 400-500.
Claiming that they were not heard before the government decided to reduce the rate, the petitioners said it was arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice.
The petitioners asserted the new order goes against the order of the apex court where labs were permitted to charge a rate prescribed by Indian Council of Medical Research.
As the state continued to witness a spike in COVID-19 cases in the second wave, the Health Department has recommenced its call centre to redress the doubts and concerns of people and help them by passing on information regarding the pandemic.
The doubts, raised by callers, would be cleared and significant information collected from them would be forwarded to different district authorities and departments concerned for further action.
The operation of the call centre resumed in the wake of a surge in the number of COVID-19 patients, a Health Department statement said here.
Selected staff are deployed at the call centres after they are imparted expert training to answer various queries related to the pandemic, it added.
As the government announced a lockdown in the state from Saturday, the Health Department also expanded 'esanjeevani', its telemedicine system, to help people to get the service of expert doctors while staying safe at home.
As part of this, the COVID-19 out-patient (OP) service through the 'esanjeevani' platform has been extended to 24 hours from Friday.
Anyone, who is under observation for suspected virus infection, those undergoing treatment for the disease and those with symptoms, can avail the service.
For this, doctors, with experience and expertise in treating COVID-19, are assigned for 24 hours, a health department statement added.
Meanwhile, a multilingual call centre, launched by the state Labour Department to clear the doubts raised by the migrant workers and settle their issues during the pandemic days, is operational now.
Call centres and control rooms have been set up for guest workers at the state level in the Labour Commissionerate here and also at 14 district headquarters, official sources said.
Bilingual officials are assigned in these centres to answer the queries and doubts raised by the guest workers, they said adding that call centre services are available in various languages including Assamese, Oriya, Bengali and Hindi.