The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that free COVID-19 tests should be carried out by accredited government as well as private labs.
As per reports, the apex court ordered that coronavirus tests must be carried out in NABL-accredited labs or any agencies approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) or Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
It also said that the issue of whether the labs will be reimbursed by the government will be decided later.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court suggested that the Centre should create a mechanism wherein private laboratories conducting COVID-19 tests do not charge high fees from public and government should reimburse the fees charged by labs.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Ravindra Bhat was told by the Centre that earlier 15,000 tests were conducted per day by 118 labs and later to enhance the capacity, 47 private labs were allowed to conduct the COVID-19 tests.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi seeking a direction to the Centre and authorities to provide free of cost testing facility for Covid-19 to all citizens in the country.