The chain of diagnostic and preventive care laboratories Thyrocare is willing to offer RT-PCR testing at Rs 300, which is almost close to rapid antigen test’s pricing. In a letter to district collectors, Dr A Velumani, Founder, Chairman and MD of Thyrocare Technologies has given the offer.
But the company is clear that the offer is only for underserved districts and for bulk tests -- it would do RT-PCR tests for 1,000 collected swabs for just Rs 3 lakh.
In a letter accessed by The Free Press Journal, Velumani writes, “Thyrocare has spare capacity to serve districts which have no or very poor RT-PCR testing capacity in India. Our offer is we would be doing RT-PCR for 1,000 collected swabs for just Rs 3 lakh only. We can report on the swabs collected on the next day (subject to lockdown limitations) from any district in 20 states.”
Thyrocare can accept as on date orders from 40 districts and soon would be able to cater to 100 districts. As of now, Thyrocare has unused capacities in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore facilities.
The company is very clear that the subsidised rates and priority will only be provided to districts with inadequate PCR testing capacity. In addition, the laboratory chain is calling on CEOs of big companies in underserved districts to coordinate if they have CSR budgets to sponsor this for their districts.
On March 31, 2021, the Maharashtra government reduced the rates of Covid-19 RT-PCR tests to Rs 500 from Rs 1,000 amid the second wave of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the charge for rapid antigen test will be between Rs 150 and Rs 300.
Under the new rates, if a person visits a private laboratory for an RT-PCR test, it will be charged Rs 500, and for home collection it is Rs 800.
