₹4,500 may not be applicable now, in view of evolving prices of testing commodities The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has written to states to reduce charges of covid-19 testing in private laboratories, which is now capped at ₹4,500, with the majority of testing material now being made in India.The letter by the country’s apex biomedical research body comes at a time when the government is reviewing instances of over charging by private hospitals for covid-19 treatment.
The ICMR said it has been trying to provide testing kits and reagents through the 16 distribution depots at various ICMR institutes.At the start of the covid-19 pandemic, there was a shortage of testing kits and reagents as India was reliant on imported products.