Centre stops supply; state initiates process to procure 6L RT-PCR kits

Kolkata: The Centre has stopped the supply of RT-PCR kits at free of cost to the state government from this month. The development comes at a time when the daily infection rate is not still brought under control.

Though, the state Health department through its relentless efforts managed to attain a recovery rate over 83 per cent. Apart from the kits, the viral transport medium (VTM) which are used for carrying the swab samples to the laboratories will have to be procured by the state government. According to sources, the state government has to bear an additional cost burden for buying these items.

State Health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam has, however, said that the discontinuation of RT-PCR kits by the Centre would have no effect on the state as the department has already initiated steps to procure 6 lakh kits out of which around 2 lakh kits have already arrived.

"They told us that they would not supply the kits and we have to buy on our own. We have already procured the kits in adequate quantity for the next one month. We have an expert committee that looked into the technical aspects. After that we have done the tendering process and procured what was required. There is no shortage of RT-PCR testing kits. We have placed an order for 6 lakh kits out of which 2 lakh arrived," Nigam said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had earlier told the State government that the former would no longer provide the RT-PCR test kits at free of costs and the government would have to arrange its own kits. Following the incident, the health department has decided to procure these kits from outside. The health department will, however, procure the testing kits from the ICMR recommended agencies. It was learnt that the ICMR had informed the state health secretary about the discontinuation of supply of free kits almost a week ago.

According to sources, the Health department has been carrying out more than 20,000 RT-PCR tests per day when all the other tests put together, the number now has reached 43,000 on an average. The number of daily sample tests would be increased soon. More than 70 laboratories across the state have been carrying out the Covid tests. Some more labs are coming up.