Even as India has moved to top gear to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus, the left-liberal ecosystem has also jacked up their efforts to malign the government by spreading fake news. Executive editor of propaganda site The Caravan, Vinod K Jose today shared a tweet which claimed that while the Coronavirus tests in other countries are either free or very cheap, it is very expensive in India.
Vinod shared the screenshot of a tweet by one Twitter user with the username @thedevil-Ind, who claimed that the test for Novel Coronavirus is done for free in Iran, China, Europe, America and Sri Lanka, and it costs only ₹500 in Pakistan and ₹300 in Bangladesh, the cost of the test is ₹4500 in India. The claim shared by the Caravan editor is completely fake, as it compares cost of test in private laboratories in India with the cost in govt labs in other countries.
https://twitter.com/vinodjose/status/1242450694256209920?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn India, initially, the testing for Coronavirus was done at only government laboratories, and those tests are completely free, the patients don’t have to pay anything. Besides the test, the treatment for Covid-19 patient is also free India.
In anticipation of the growing number of tests to be done, the central govt recently approved several private laboratory chains to conduct the test. In the guideline issued in this regard, the ICMR has fixed an upper limit of ₹4500 which can be charged by the labs for the test. ICMR has also appealed the private labs to either do the test for free, or charge a reduced rate. Unlike what left-liberals are spreading on media and social media, the govt has not fixed the cost at ₹4500, but it the maximum limit, while the labs are expected to charge below that amount.
Just like India, India, the test is free in govt run laboratories in the USA, but the same is not case with private labs, where the cost will have to paid by the patient, or will be paid by insurance. According to one report, the test will cost between $50 to $100 at labs run by Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings and Quest Diagnostics Inc, which is at par with the cost in private labs India.
Therefore, it is completely false that Coronavirus test is not free in India. It is free in government laboratories, while it will cost some money in private labs which can’t exceed ₹4500. Moreover, the government has been saying that the govt labs have enough capacity, therefore most people should be able to get their tests done for free at govt labs.