SUPREME COURT ORDERS TO MAKE COVID-19 TESTING FREE

On Thursday, 9th April, the Supreme Court of India asked the government to ensure that testing for the coronavirus should be made free by all private labs. The reason for this being that private labs are charging nearly Rs.4500, which many Indian may not be able to afford. Government labs which do the tests for free can do around 15,000 tests a day.

By taking this decision the supreme court is making the tests widely available and reducing the chances of spreading the virus. This was an important step because the poor people are more likely to get Coronavirus since they live closely and they should be able to afford these tests.

Since these tests become free it will lead to India getting rid of Coronavirus faster which is good for the economy. However, the private labs may not be able to bear the cost of providing everyone with free tests and may have to shut down. Hence the government will have provided them with some other source of support. The court also announced that the government may give the private labs a disbursement for this. If the government does this it may lead to the government having a budget deficit, however it is needed right now and solving the problem faster will stabilise the economy. The government should also provide subsidies to those producing these test kits. In order to make sure the kits are being used in the most efficient manner the labs should make sure that the patients show enough symptoms before they are tested.

Some labs may also decide to shut down due to giving free tests which will be harmful for the economy hence, completely putting the burden on these labs may lead to them pulling out and reducing the supply. Therefore the government should come up with a method to pay these labs at least the cost of these kits in order to keep them running.

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