Mumbai, April14: The Supreme Court on Monday made changes to its order on covid-19 testing in private labs, saying it should be free for the poorest of the country rather than everybody. It said testing in private labs should be free for those eligible under the Ayushman Bharat health policy for the poor only. The court also directed the centre to issue guidelines within a week listing other categories of economically weaker sections for free testing.

This directive will allow private labs to scale up testing to support the government during this national crisis. Metropolis is currently supporting the Maharashtra Government in its intent to scale up testing, and we have the capacity to do thousands of tests per day. We are scaling up drive-through and home visit testing significantly.

“We stand by the decision of the honourable Supreme Court. The Government of India’s stand of allowing the free tests of the people covered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme is a welcome move. While we have continued providing the best patient care through all the chaos, I am happy to see the SC and government recognize the passion and commitment with which private labs are operating and recognize the good work being done as caretakers of the health of all Indians. We will follow the government’s directive and will continue to do the tests at the approved rates.”  said Ms. Ameera Shah, Promoter & Managing Director of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd.

The order came after solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR), filed an affidavit on Monday asking the court to withdraw its 8 April order for the central government to ensure free testing at private labs for all Indians.The earlier order, telling private labs not to charge any Indian for covid-19 tests, became controversial after private laboratories objected, amid a lack of clarity over whether they would reimbursed for their costs.

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