Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan on Thursday questioned why the Tamil Nadu government was not reducing the price of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for Covid-19 that costs Rs 3,000.
“What is the mystery behind the fact that Tamil Nadu is the only state to continue with the tariff fixed in June even after several states have reduced the tariff?” he tweeted in Tamil. He added the RT-PCR test fee is Rs800 in Delhi, Rs980 in Maharashtra, Rs1,200 in Rajasthan, and Rs1,000 in Meghalaya.
There are 224 approved testing labs in the state. The government conducts the tests free of cost at its 67 labs. But 157 private labs in the state charge up to Rs3,000 for the RT-PCR tests and an additional Rs500 for home collection after it was capped.
“We may be revising it [the test price] as a core committee is deliberating on it,” health secretary J Radhakrishnan said.
Tamil Nadu is the only state to strictly stick to RT-PCR tests, which are the gold standard for diagnosing Covid-19.
