The Telangana government has announced a list of 18 laboratories, some connected with hospitals, to test for Covid-19 in Hyderabad and Secundarabad.

The labs and hospitals had been cleared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

However, the State Government had put a bar on private sector labs, limiting the tests to only those in the public sector.

But with the number outbreak intensifying, and the State government allowing private hospitals to treat the Covid-19 patients, the State has cleared 18 labs and hospitals in the twin cities to conduct the test.

The State government has fixed the charges at ₹2,200 for samples collected at the labs and hospitals and ₹2,800 for samples collected at patients’ residences.

However, advertisements by some diagnostic centres and hospitals triggered criticism as they indicated that there would be additional charges for PPE (personal protection equipment) and other sanitary procedures.

People took to social media with snapshots of such advertisements to criticise their tactics to charge more than the Government-mandated rate card.

The list of labs: Apollo Hospitals (Jubilee Hills); Vijaya Diagnostic Centre (Himayath Nagar); Vimta Labs (IDA Cherlapally); Apollo Health and Lifestyle Lab (Bowenpally); Dr Remedies Labs (Punjagutta); Pathcare Labs (Medchal); American Institute of Pathology and Lab Sciences (Serilingampally); Medicis Pathlabs India (Bowenpally); Yashoda Hospital lab (Secunderabad); Biognosys Tech (Medchal); Tenet Diagnostics (Banjara Hills); AIG Hospital (Gachibowli); Cell Correct Diagnostics (Virinchi Hospitals, Banjara Hills); KIMS (Secunderabad); MapMyGenome (Madhapur); Lepra Society-Blue Peter Public Health and Research Centre; Lucid Medical Diagnostics (Secunderabad); and Star Hospital labs (Banjara Hills).

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