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"We had earlier reduced the cost of testing in West Bengal but we want to further reduce it so that the people can get tested more", said CM Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat.
The state of West Bengal from the past two weeks has seen a gradual decline in the number of cases. On December 2, the state health department said 42,624 samples were tested for the virus amongst which only 8.22 per cent were positive.
The move to reduce the RT-PCR rates comes after, Odisha on Wednesday, capped the pricing of the test at Rs 400.
Not only the state of West Bengal and Odisha have capped the pricing of the RT-PCR, here’s the list of states and how much does it cost to get the RT-PCR done:
- Uttar Pradesh
The rate for the test in the private labs has been reduced from Rs 1,600 to Rs 700, which is among the lowest in the country. The labs have been allowed to charge Rs 900 per RT-PCR test if they collect the sample from the patient's home. The rates are inclusive of GST.
- Delhi
The Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government, capped the price of
RT-PCR tests at Rs 800 for all private laboratories, reducing the amount from Rs 2,400.
- Gujarat
The Gujarat government reduced the price of RT-PCR tests conducted by private laboratories for Covid-19 to Rs 800 from Rs 1,500.
- Maharashtra
The price for an RT-PCR test is Rs 980 for tests carried out in labs and at Rs 1,800 for in-house sample collections in the western state.
- Andhra Pradesh
The prices of the RT-PCR in the state has been fixed at Rs 1,600, bringing it down from Rs 2400.
- Telangana
For the private-labs, the RT-PCR rates have been fixed at Rs 850, a revision from Rs 2,200. For samples collected at home, prices have been slashed to Rs 1,200 from the earlier Rs 2,800.
- Kerala
The price for the RT-PCR test in the southern-state was brought down from Rs 2,750 to Rs 2,100.
- Jharkhand
Jharkhand has capped RT-PCR test prices for private hospitals and labs at Rs 1,500. This is the second revision in the pricing of the tests, as the prices were earlier, brought down from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,400.
- Rajasthan
The Rajasthan government has slashed the prices for RT-PCR tests carried out by private laboratories at Rs 1,200 from the earlier cost of Rs 2,200.
- Meghalaya
The state exempted BPL card holding families from any sort of payment for the test. While for normal people, the test is priced at Rs 3,200.