The State government has condemned the allegations of overpriced purchase of COVID-19 rapid testing kits from a South Korean firm and stated that only the lowest price would be paid to the company as per a provision in the deal.
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, in a release, said that the deal with Sandor Medicaids Pvt. Ltd. was made only after a proper discussion over the price and time of delivery.
The initial price was fixed at ₹730 per kit but considering the likelihood of an increase in demand and decrease in the price of the product the State has mentioned in the purchase order that it would only pay the lowest price as per deals made with any other governments in future. The difference of amount would also be settled in the final payment, he said.
In a press conference, Health and Family Welfare Commissioner Katamneni Bhaskar said, “By the time A.P. placed an order for the testing kits the company in India had no permission hence we had to get them from South Korea. As per the clause in the purchase agreement, we would pay only ₹337 per kit as offered to the Chhattisgarh government or further lower price if the company offers it to any other party.”
Community transmission
Meanwhile, Mr. Bhaskar said that the source of transmission in about 40 COVID-19 infections could not be established in the State and efforts are still on in that direction.
While responding to a query, he said, “Community transmission could be confirmed when the source of transmission of a virus to a person couldn’t be established and that’s how it is defined. We have around 40 such cases where officials are still trying to establish the source of the transmission,” he said.
“As efforts are still on to establish source we might trace the source in a couple of days and consider the case as impact transmission,” he added.
We asked the medical shop keepers to inform the government about people buying medicines for cough, cold and fever, he said.
