SC says only persons covered under Ayushman Yojana can be tested for free in pvt labs

The Supreme Court Monday modified its April 8 order which asked private labs to conduct free Covid-19 tests and said the benefit will be available only to “economically weaker sections” who are covered under a government scheme such as the Ayushman Bharat.

The top court said it never intended to make testing free for those who can afford to pay.

It had on April 8 directed that private labs, which were allowed to charge Rs 4,500 for Covid-19 tests, would not charge for the tests observing that they need to be philanthropic in the hour of national crisis.

A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Ravindra Bhat took note of the pleas of two people, including orthopedic surgeon Kaushal Kant Mishra, who said if the testing was made free for all, private labs would be overburdened financially and would slow down the tests for the novel coronavirus or Covid-19. “Having heard, counsel for the parties, we are satisfied that sufficient cause has been made out to clarify and modify our order dated April 8, 2020,” the SC said.