Petition against SC order asking private labs to conduct corona test for free

The Supreme Court had on April 8 ordered all coronavirus infection patients to be tested free of cost.

A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and S. Ravindra Bhat said, “The tests relating to COVID-19, whether in approved government laboratories or approved private laboratories, shall be free of cost. The respondents (Union of India) shall issue necessary direction in this regard immediately.”

The Apex Court order came on a petition filed by advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi challenging the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) advisory to fix maximum Rs. 4,500 for corona test by private entities.

The petition also sought direction that all such tests be conducted by accredited pathological laboratories, and to strike down the ICMR advisory for allegedly being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

“Private hospitals, including laboratories, have an important role to play in containing the scale of the pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis. We thus are satisfied that the petitioner has made out a case for issuing a direction to the respondents to issue necessary direction to accredited private labs to conduct free of cost COVID-19 test”, said the Court in an interim order.

Suggesting free tests, the petitioner also claimed that capping test charges at private labs violates the ideals and values of the Constitution. The top court observed whether the private laboratories carrying free of cost COVID-19 tests are entitled for any reimbursement of expenses incurred, would be looked into later.

“We further are of the view that tests relating to COVID-19 must be carried out in NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories) accredited labs or any agencies approved by ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)”, observed the top Court.

The Court observed that it finds prima facie substance in the submission of petitioner that at this time of national calamity, permitting private labs to charge Rs. 4,500 for screening and confirmation test of COVID-19 may not be within the means of a large part of population of this country and no person can be deprived to undergo the COVID-19 test due to non-payment of capped amount of Rs 4,500. The court noted that government laboratories are already conducting COVID-19 tests for free.

However, the Supreme Court was urged to modify its order by a petition by a Delhi based doctor stating that the April 8 order placed an unfair burden on private labs. According to him, it disincentivised private labs at a time when India needed to test more and more to detect COVID-19 cases and curb its spread.

According to the petition, if the government does not reimburse the private laboratories immediately, they may stop testing for COVID-19, which might pose a direct and inevitable risk to the health of persons across the country.

Further, according to the petition, the current capacity of the labs – both government and private –appears to be insufficient to obtain accurate data and control the pandemic. At a time when testing across the country has to be ramped up and the nation enters the most critical phase, the private labs have been burdened with offering free testing, ignoring the fact that the few pathogen labs which are well equipped at the time of the disaster would be actually discouraged to continue to function.

The petition has also requested the Court to direct the government to install pathogen labs in local municipal and panchayat areas so that free testing by the government could be ramped up to cope up with the capacity.