Coronavirus: Supreme Court Asks Centre To Consider Reimbursing Pvt Labs For Testing

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to consider a mechanism to reimburse private labs which take up COVID-19 testing. The apex court took up a petition seeking directions to the Union government to provide free testing facility for novel coronavirus to all Indians. The Solicitor-General of India, Tushar Mehta is said to have responded on behalf of the Centre stating that the government would consider the feasibility of the apex court's observation on such a proposal.

The Solicitor-General of India, Tushar Mehta is reported to have informed the Supreme Court that close to 15,000 tests are being done by 118 laboratories in the country. As the Centre considered that this was inadequate, it roped in private 47 lab chains to conduct COVID-19 tests. The SG is further stated to have submitted to the court that the situation is a developing one.

The Supreme Court, hearing petitions on providing PPEs and safety gear to healthcare professionals attending to patients of Coronavirus, observed that their safety, as also the safety of their families was very important. The apex court in its observations called them the real warriors.

The Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that the Centre would write to all states to ensure that salary cuts of medical professionals for PPEs do not happen. The SG's response was in reply to a contention that some hospitals were making such deductions from salaries of doctors and other healthcare personnel to purchase masks and PPEs.