KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday quashed the state government's order slashing the price of RT PCR tests to Rs 500 from Rs 1700 at all private labs in the state. It further directed the state government to hold discussions with owners and representatives of private laboratories and take a fresh decision in this regard.
Justice TR Ravi issued the order on the petitions filed by Accredited Molecular Testing Laboratories and Devi Scans (P) Ltd seeking to set aside the order. Paul Jacob, the counsel for the petitioners, contended that the state government has no power to issue an order fixing rate for tests in private labs. Hence, the order was issued without jurisdiction and in violation of principles of natural justice. The average cost of conducting an RT-PCR test incurred by petitioners as per the present norms and quality standards comes to around Rs 1500 per test. Any revision in the existing rates would detrimentally affect their interest as well as the quality of the RT-PCR test.
According to the petitioners, the clientele of the private labs is persons, who have to travel abroad or those who intend to undergo surgeries and operations in private hospitals. In both these cases, the accuracy of the tests cannot, at any rate, be diluted. Cheaper testing kits are available in the market but they may not produce accurate results. They alleged that the government issued the order unilaterally and without affording them a chance of being heard. The petitioners also pointed out that criminal cases were being initiated against those who refuse to function at a loss.
The state government submitted that the cost of kits, consumables have drastically come down and the argument of the private labs that the only way to move forward is to use test kits that are cheaper and not up to the mark in getting an accurate result was without any basis. The rate in Punjab is only Rs. 415, in Maharashtra it is Rs 500, in Haryana and Uttarkhand also Rs. 500, the government said