Tamil Nadu is expecting to receive one lakh more rapid test kits by next weekend, Health department officials have said.
With questions being raised regarding the cost of procuring these kits, the officials clarified that they were purchased from firms approved by the Union government at a rate fixed by the Centre. Documents showed that the State had procured the kits for Rs. 600 each.
A day after receiving the 24,000 antibody-based testing kits that it had ordered through the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC), the State obtained 12,000 rapid test kits from the Government of India’s consignment early on Saturday. TNMSC was handing over the kits to the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine for deployment on the field, officials said.
The State government had placed an order for five lakh rapid test kits. “We expect [to receive] a lakh kits before next weekend. However, there is uncertainty. There is no clear information from China on the fixed schedules for clearing and shipping out consignments. However, as of now, it is an adequate number, more so when the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has restricted the use of these tests to limited scenarios,” an official said.
Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar told reporters that the ICMR guidelines on rapid test kits had been conveyed to all deputy directors of health services and joint directors of medical and rural health services. “Testing using these kits has commenced in Chennai, Salem and Coimbatore. Rapid test kits are not confirmatory tests. These tests only indicate whether a person had been exposed to the virus. They will check if antibodies against the virus had been formed in the body - IgM and IgG,” he said.
He added that persons with Influenza Like Illness (after seven days) in containment zones, vulnerable groups and front-line workers would be tested using these antibody-based kits.
P. Umanath, managing director of TNMSC, told reporters that ICMR had granted approval for antibody-based rapid test kits on April 2, after which efforts were made to purchase them.
“We placed the order as per the government-published list of companies and rates. When we placed the order (April 3), there were only seven firms. The firm from which Chhattisgarh had procured the kits was not on the list then, and was approved later. When T.N. and the Centre placed the orders, the customs duty and the health cess were waived,” he said in reply to questions on the cost of the purchase.
He said it was wrong to say that T.N. had purchased the kits at a relatively higher rate. The rate cannot be compared with those paid by other States as it was fixed by the Centre and not by T.N. These were firms and kits that were cleared by ICMR and the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, he said.
He said that according to reports, the Government of India had placed an order for 15 lakh kits. “These are imported kits that are being supplied from China, in batches, after quality control. India has received the first batch of three lakh kits from China, out of which we have received 24,000 kits. The remaining kits will arrive in a phased manner. It (the consignment) is being cleared in batches,” he explained.
Both the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai and the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital in Salem have launched testing using the antibody-based kits.
