Raj govt stops using China-made rapid testing kits for COVID-19, apprises ICMR of it

Rajasthan government on Tuesday stopped using China-made rapid testing kits for coronavirus infection after y delivered inaccurate results and informed Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) about amalies.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot termed rapid testing kits yielding inaccurate results a “serious” development and said ICMR has been informed about it.

“Furr action with regards to rapid testing kits will be taken after ICMR response,” he added.

State's Health Minister Raghu Sharma earlier said kits gave only 5.4 per cent accurate results against expectation of 90 per cent accuracy and refore kits were of benefit.

“We have written to ICMR asking m what to do. We are waiting for ir response. rapid test results were negative even on positive patients,” minister said.

chief minister subsequently told reporters during a video conference, “Rajasthan is leading in conducting number of tests but unfortunately, results of rapid testing kits, which came with great difficulty, are coming doubtful. It is a serious condition.”

“We wanted to stop outspread of COVID-19 in Rajasthan through rapid tests and had made all preparations accordingly. capacity of PCR was increased and along with it; rapid testing kits were brought,” he said.

A committee comprising heads of medicine and microbiology departments at Sawai Man Singh government hospital here was set up earlier by government to examine efficacy of kits and committee found that only 5.4 per cent test results were accurate.

"As per advice of committee, we have stopped testing from rapid testing kits," health minister said.

He said 168 tests were conducted through rapid testing kits.

kits were also used for testing of patients who have already been tested positive for coronavirus in PCR-based tests and results were negative in ir cases too, which, minister said, raised questions about credibility of se kits.

"If ICMR's response comes in our favour, kits could be returned," he said.

Rajasthan had started conducting tests through rapid testing kits from Friday in state's hotspots, starting from Jaipur. Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said kits were made in China.

state government had procured 30,000 kits through ICMR for free while 10,000 kits were purchased with per kit costing Rs. 540 plus taxes. rapid testing kits, through which blood samples are tested, were aimed at speeding up screening and detection of suspected coronavirus patients.

It was t a confirmatory test and PCR based test was required for confirmation of a positive result.

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