Amid the controversy on the pricing of Chinese COVID-19 rapid antibody test kits, the Centre on Monday clarified that the ICMR hasn’t made any payment with respect to the supplies of the Chinese rapid antibody test kits.
The Health Ministry said that the government will not lose any money on the cancellation of the rapid testing kits from the two Chinese firms.
“It needs to be stressed that ICMR hasn’t made any payment whatsoever with respect to these supplies. Because of the due process followed (not going for procurement with 100% advance amount), the government doesn’t stand to lose a single rupee,” it said on rapid antibody test kits procurement
“At the level of ICMR, we have sufficient amount of kits as far as RT PCR test is concerned. Not only a sufficient amount of kits are available but we have also parallelly ensured geographical adequacy: Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health, said in the daily media briefing.
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“States are advised to stop using these kits procured from the two companies (Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics kits) and return them to the suppliers,” Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
The ministry also said that it had carried out a tender process, receiving bids between Rs 1,204 and Rs 600 for the order. The ministry further said that it had selected the lowest quote, Rs 600, for the order.
On Monday, a controversy flared over the Chinese rapid tests after a legal dispute between the distributor and the importer in the Delhi High Court suggested that India had paid double.
The government, through the ICMR, had ordered five lakh rapid antibody test kits from Chinese firm Guangzhou Wondfo on March 27. The test kits were bought by the importer, Matrix, for Rs 245 apiece from China.
Yet, the distributors, Real Metabolics and Aark Pharmaceuticals, asked the government for Rs 600 for each kit.