The supreme court on wednesday directed that COVID-19 tests in approved government labs or private laboratories should be conducted free of cost and the Centre should immediately issue directions in this regard. A bench of Justices ashok Bhushan and S ravindra Bhat, which heard the matter via video conferencing, said that tests relating to COVID-19 or coronavirus must be carried out in National Accreditation Board for testing and calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited labs or any agencies approved by World health Organisation (WHO) or indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
Adding that the private hospitals including laboratories have an important role to play in containing the scale of the pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis, the bench ordered the government and other authorities to issue directions to all the concerned hospitals in this regard. The top court said that even before the COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO on march 11, it had spread in several countries and as of now, more than 200 countries are suffering from this pandemic.
The number of patients suffering from COVID-19 is rapidly increasing worldwide with death toll rising rapidly. In our country, in spite of various measures taken by the government of india and different State Government/Union Territory the number of patients and death caused by it is increasing day by day,” adding that india has a very large population. The top court issued directions on a PIL filed by advocate shashank Deo Sudhi seeking a direction to the Centre and authorities to provide free of cost testing facility for COVID-19 to all citizens in the country. The top court said that private hospitals, including laboratories, have an important role to play in containing the scale of the pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis.
