Ensure free testing in private labs too: Supreme Court

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 8

The Supreme Court today ordered the Centre to ensure that Covid tests were conducted free of cost by both government and private labs.

The government labs are already conducting the tests free of cost. A Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Ravindra Bhat said: “The tests related to Covid-19 whether in approved government labs or approved private labs shall be free of cost. The question as to whether the private labs carrying free of cost Covid-19 tests are entitled to any reimbursement of expenses incurred shall be considered later on.”

The Bench asked the government to respond to a PIL on the issue in two weeks. “Tests must be carried out in NABL- accredited labs or agencies approved by ICMR,” it said.