Four laboratories in Coimbatore have been temporarily debarred from performing RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests for COVID-19 following a ‘rapid’ increase in the number of tests performed by them in a short span of time.
According to an order issued to this effect by Ajay Yadav, Project Director, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project (TNHSP), a committee has been formed on the instructions of the Principal Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare project for further inquiry.
The four labs - Orbito Asia laboratory, Bioline Laboratory, Microbiology Laboratory, and Krishna Laboratory - came under focus during scrutiny of United India Insurance Company’s (UIIC) reports on payments made to private labs for COVID-19 tests for persons not covered under the Chief Minister’s Health Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS).
In a letter issued to UIIC in April, the Health and Family Welfare department allowed the company to extend COVID-19 testing coverage similar to CMCHIS in private labs to those referred by public health authorities even if they were not covered under the scheme.
UIIC later informed TNHSP that it had made payments for 11,535 tests performed in private labs for non-CMCHIS beneficiaries referred by public health authorities till Jun 15, 2020.
Though the company was soon asked to stop this process of releasing payments to labs for non-CMCHIS beneficiaries, it was subsequently decided to allow them for the month of July. They were, however, asked to provide breakup of details on these tests.
According to the order, scrutiny of these details showed that the number of samples tested in these four laboratories increased rapidly in a short span of time. They had been asked to stop the tests until the inquiry was complete.
The Joint Director of Health Services across the State were also advised to send samples referred by public health authorities to private labs only when government labs were not able to handle them due to increased load.
