Cost of Covid tests in private labs may go down further: Eatala Rajender

Hyderabad : The cost of Covid-19 tests in private labs may go down further in near future from the current level of Rs 850 as fixed, hinted Health Minister Eatala Rajender. The cost of the RT-PCR, a real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test was costing thousands till now in those private labs.

"We never wanted to permit private labs to test Covid as they charge exorbitantly. But because of various reasons, we were compelled to permit them. The prices were beyond the reach of common people. Now we have brought it down to Rs 850 just a few days ago and it might go down further in next few days, may be 10 days or more," he informed, while addressing at a panel discussion on 'Safe re-opening of schools after Covid lockdown' at Hitex.

The panel discussion was organised by TRSMA (Telangana Recognised School Management Association) as part of the ongoing three-day hybrid exhibition PHIC (Preventive Healthcare & Infection Control Expo)-2020 here in the city on Friday.

Addressing 200 plus correspondents of private schools who are members of TRSMA, the Minister said the intensity of the corona has come down. "But the whole world is currently discussing the second wave. Some of the countries have been experiencing the fresh wave of corona attack. Though I am not an expert on the subject, personally feel that there may not be a second spell of the dreaded virus in India and Telangana also," he said.

In the initial stages of corona, some people used to be test positive even for 35 days of infection and they had to be quarantined that many more days. But, subsequently, ICMR eased out those restrictions. Now, most are home quarantined. Thanks to our ancient wisdom, our homes have turned into Ayurvedic hospitals. We have been able to take care of ourselves to the great extent with home remedies. Ayurveda, being the science of life, that propagates the gifts of nature in maintaining healthy and happy living has been helpful to many to take care of themselves.

Ayurveda's extensive knowledge based on preventive care helped many at the home quarantine, the Health Minister added.

Touching upon the subject of the panel discussion on reopening the schools, Eatala said, "We all know that no parent wants their children to sit back at home without going to school for a very long time. At the same time, they can't run the risk.

We need to take a very careful decision. Though online lessons are helping to certain extent, children with mobile phones in hand get exposed to unwanted things, which again is not good in the larger interest of the society. It will be difficult to exercise control on their usage."

The Minister has assured TRSMA, the body of 10,000 private budget schools representing 33 lakh students and 5 lakh teaching staff, that their concerns would be taken to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and assured that the government would take a suitable decision in the larger interest of everybody.

The Minister also inspected 50 plus stalls put up in India's first of kind Hybrid expo being organised by Hitex, in support with TRSMA, IFCAI, TSFMC, HYSEA and many other organisations with a single objective to showcase innovative products, solutions, services and learn best practices adopted from each other for a smooth transition and better preparedness for the new normal life.