Chandigarh Administration to pay Rs 500 per RT-PCR sample to pvt labs

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 23

The UT Administration will pay Rs500 per sample to private laboratories to give the Covid-19 report within 24 hours, said UT Adviser Manoj Parida.

The Administration held a meeting with the private laboratories on Tuesday. The pendency in RT-PCR Covid reports was more than 48 hours, which was causing a delay in contact tracing.

Parida said the UT Health Department was going to send samples collected by it to private laboratories and reimburse them Rs500 for giving the Covid test report within 24 hours. This was being done to enhance the existing RT-PCR capacity as the pendency of reports was going up to four days in such tests.

The ministry has asked to increase the share of RT-PCR tests to 80 per cent out of the total tests. The Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research have also been asked to increase their RT-PCR testing capacity in view of the surge in the Covid-19 cases.

The UT Administrator directed the PGI authorities to enhance the sample testing to 1,200 per day. Of this, at least 600 samples sent by the UT Administration should be accepted daily. The GMCH-32 has been asked to increase the capacity to 400 RT-PCR tests per day.