Sindh govt slashes Covid test rates

Private hospitals, labs warned to follow revised ceiling

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has directed all private sector hospitals and laboratories in Sindh, conducting Covid RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen tests, to reduce the rates.

Currently the maximum cost allowed for RT-PCR is Rs6,500 which was fixed in July 2020. The revised maximum cost of RT-PCR test has been fixed at Rs4,500- and Rs4,800 for sample collected from home.

The rate of Rapid Antigen Test has also been fixed at Rs1,200 against the previous maximum rate of Rs1,500 to Rs3,000.

The Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) CEO Dr Ahson Qavi Siddiqi has directed all private sector hospitals and laboratories conducting Covid RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen tests in Sindh to reduce the rates of both tests, said a notification.

In exercise of powers vested via the SHCC Act 2013 Section 40(2Xm) "The Regulation and Control of Prices of the Healthcare Services" and in the larger public interest, the commission after deliberation with key stakeholders including diagnostic laboratories and hospitals conducting Covid 19 PCR tests, hereby revises the previously advertised ceiling cost with immediate effect, the notification read.

The operational costs of conducting the test are greatly reduced and this benefit must pass on to the patients in larger public interest, Dr Siddiqui said in the notification endorsed by the Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho.

The notification said that the Covid test charges were fixed after discussion with representatives of key stakeholder hospitals and labs working in a meeting held in Karachi on February 2.

The summary of revised rate was also discussed with Minister of Health who supported and has endorsed the move to benefit the masses.

The notification said that in order to ensure compliance of the aforesaid cost, all private hospitals, laboratories and associated collection centers shall be visited by the authorised officers of SHCC from time to time. Non-compliance shall entail penal consequences which may include inter-alia warning, fine, deregistration, suspension of service or sealing of premises.

In case of non-compliance, the public reserves the right to lodge complaints with the SHCC, which will be investigated as per the terms and conditions of the SHCC ACT 2013.

All other standards required for Covid PCR testing must continue to be maintained and quality of tests must be assured for reliable results.

Nine succumb to Covid

As many as nine more patients of Covid-19 died overnight lifting the death toll to 7,878 and 1,952 new cases emerged when 17,094 tests were conducted.

According to a statement issued from the Chief Minister House, the current fatalitis have lifted the death toll to 7,878 that constitutes 1.5 per cent death rate, the current detection rate was 11.4 per cent and the recovery rate from the pandemic was 91.2 per cent.

The statement said that currently 40,001 patients were under treatment, of them 39,549 were in home isolation, 43 at isolation centers, and 409 at different hospitals. Condition of 368 patients was stated to be critical, including 44 shifted to ventilators. According to the statement, out of 1,952 new cases, 1,125 have been detected from Karachi. Hyderabad has 410, Shaheed Benazirabad and Tharparkar 38 each, Dadu and Nausheroferoze 36 each, Sukkur and Tando Allahyar 25 each, Badin 24, Sanghar and Sujawal 23 each, Matiari 20, Thatta 18, Tando Muhammad Khan 17, Jamshoro 14, Ghotki, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, and Kashmore 10 each.

Sharing vaccination data the statement said that 35,588,164 vaccine injections have been administered up to February 2, and added during the last 24 hours 537,073 people were inoculated - in total 36,125,237 vaccines have administered which constituted 66.37 per cent of the vaccine eligible population.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2022.