Smaller personal laboratories really feel pinch as Maharashtra once more caps Covid testing charges

The Maharashtra authorities’s March 31 order additional capping the charges of RT-PCR and antigen exams for Covid-19 has hit smaller personal labs arduous, with lots of them saying that the charges are unsustainable and leaves them with little margin to develop capability.
In elements of inside Maharashtra, many personal labs proceed to cost larger charges, claiming that it’s essential for them to outlive.
In Vashi’s UDC satellite tv for pc laboratory, CEO Dr Mohit Patil mentioned the newest worth cap works for big labs which have huge capability, however revenue margin is slender for smaller labs. “Our biggest expenditure is paying fees to collection staff who go for home visits. It is difficult to manage with current rates,” he mentioned.

On March 31, within the fourth notification previously one yr, the Maharashtra authorities introduced worth capping for RT-PCR check— Rs 500 if particular person walks into laboratory, Rs 600 for hospital check, and Rs 800 for house assortment. Antibody check below ELISA will price Rs 250 in lab, for house assortment Rs 400. Rapid antigen check will price Rs 150 if finished in laboratory and Rs 300 for house assortment. CBNAT and TRUNAt check will price Rs 1,200. After the outbreak of the pandemic final yr, the costs for a RT-PCR check within the state have been Rs 4,500, which have been minimize once in a while by the state authorities to ease the burden on individuals.
Maharashtra is conducting 2-2.5 lakh exams every day, of which 1.5-1.7 lakh are RT-PCR. Mumbai is conducting 40,000-50,000 exams a day.
Pravin Shinde, regional head in InfleXn laboratory, that processes 4,500 samples a day in Thane, mentioned, “We didn’t expect prices to fall so low, there was no consultation with smaller labs. The only way to earn is through large volume and not every lab has wherewithal to do that,” he mentioned.
Sachin Bhosle, the founder, mentioned since it is a pandemic scenario, the federal government anticipated labs to not profiteer. “And that is why we are cooperating, we are able to break even,” he mentioned.
Dr Trupti Borse, pathologist in Supreme Diagnostics, Nashik, mentioned funding is required for private protecting tools, viral transport media (VTM), extraction kits, RT-PCR kits, N-95 masks, plus Rs 100 per kg biomedical waste disposal.
“We have capacity of 1,000 samples a day and I have a staff of 30. It is impossible to test a sample for Rs 500. I have staff salary to pay, and electricity bill has doubled in a year due to high testing load. Operating cost is rising, and the government is expecting us to reduce test rates,” she mentioned.

Sushant Kinra, CEO in Suburban Diagnostics, mentioned price of VTM has risen from Rs 13 to Rs 26 because of excessive demand and low provide. The lab does 14,000 exams in Mumbai, Pune, Goa and MP belt daily. “We are trying to expand capacity to meet growing demand, but price cap has hit us bad,” he mentioned.
Suburban Diagnostics shifted its company workplace right into a co-working house in a enterprise centre, and transformed the outdated workplace right into a molecular lab to develop house. “The operational cost is high, and test rates are low. I need 100 more people for sample collection. They demand higher remuneration due to Covid risk but margin is too low to manage all this,” he mentioned.
Kinra added that labs are in contact with ICMR to waive import obligation on sure testing materials.
Sanjeev Vashistha, MD and CEO of Pathkind, mentioned the GST on kits ranges from 5-18 per cent. “But we can’t charge GST from a patient. We need some concession from the government. A lot of human resources is required for data entry operators to feed data on ICMR portal,” he mentioned.
Vashishta plans to open 4-5 labs in Maharashtra in two months. He added that worth capping in Harayana, at Rs 499 per check, is forcing small labs to again out because of losses.

The worth cap has compelled labs to go for different means to earn money. Patients need to pay extra to get sooner outcomes. Salma Shaikh, a technician who collects samples and provides to SRL and Metropolis, mentioned she fees Rs 1,500, double the speed fastened by authorities, however ensures the report comes inside 24 hours. “I have to pay some commission to the lab,” she mentioned.
Dr Sudhakar Shinde, who chaired a committee for worth capping, refused to remark. A state official mentioned that primarily based on their evaluation, consumables and kits price Rs 150-200, giving ample margin to labs for revenue.