New Delhi: The supreme court sent a notice to all the state government and the union territories seeking a reply on a PIL to fix the maximum rate for RT PCR test of Covid-19 uniformly all over India.
The petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking its direction to the state and central governments to fix a uniform price rate of the coronavirus testing kit across India.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notice to the Health Ministry and listed the PIL filed by lawyer Ajay Agrawal for hearing after two weeks.
The petition filed by Agarwal claimed to fix a uniform price of RT PCR test for Coronavirus at Rs. 400/-, instead of Rs. 900/- and Rs. 2800/-, the brutal price rate fixed by the State Government and the UTs so far.
“There is a big loot by laboratories and they are minting money to the tune of crores and crores of rupees. The margin of profit is so high as it is as high as 1400 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and 1200 per cent in Delhi,” said the petition filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal.
Advocate Ajay Agarwal claimed that the kit was found at less than Rs. 200/- in the Indian market, but there is loot in the laboratories and by the hospital owners using the calamities into an opportunity to earn more profit from the public.
“And the matter is concerned with 135 crore citizen of the country as everybody worried about the coronavirus and forced to get their test done at this exorbitant price,” it said.
It alleged that the owners of the private laboratories and hospitals are using the calamity into opportunities for minting crores and crores of rupees.
— Seraj