The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have asked all States to remove “all impediments which may restrict testing” for COVID-19 and to facilitate testing in such a manner that citizens should be able to test for SARS-CoV-2 without the mandatory requirement of a prescription from a government doctor.
The MoHFW has said the mandatory requirement of a prescription from a government doctor for an individual to undergo testing could be an impediment and lead to unnecessary delays. The communication addressed to the Chief Secretaries of States, from Secretary Preeti Sudan and Balram Bhargava, ICMR Director General, has asked the States to ensure full capacity utilisation of all COVID-19 testing labs in respective States, as “test, track and treat” is the key strategy for the early detection and containment of the pandemic. Health Department officials in Kerala said that the State did not place a distinction between the public or private sector but that it had been mandated that COVID-19 testing should be on the basis of a prescription from a doctor in a COVID-treating hospital. At present, however, COVID treatment was restricted to government hospitals in Kerala.
“We believe that testing should be done at labs/hospitals which are competent to interpret the results properly and offer appropriate interventions. The testing window is important and all doctors might not be empowered to recommend a COVID test. There is also the matter of getting all labs to report the data to us meticulously to enable contact tracing,” a senior official said
Capacity utilisation
The capacity utilisation of COVID testing labs in the private sector in States is grossly sub-optimal, it has been pointed out.
The letter has directed the States to facilitate testing at the earliest by enabling all qualified medical practitioners, including private practitioners, to prescribe COVID-19 test to any individual fulfilling the criteria for testing as per ICMR guidelines. Labs should be free to test any individual in accordance to the ICMR guidelines, the communication said.
Campaign mode
It advises States to test in a campaign mode using mobile vans in high incidence areas, utilising the new rapid viral antigen tests. States have also been asked to fix the rate for private labs for RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) testing.
