4 Private labs started doing testing for swine flu on Thursday, giving Delhiites an alternative to government-run screening centres for detecting the disease.
Following are the labs--
(1) Super Religare Labs -- 01144121212, 01139401111
(2) Dr Lal Pathlabs -- 01139885050, 01144231234
(3) Dr Dangs Lab -- 9999992020
(4) Auroprobe Labs -- 9811355342, 9911373525
All labs promise results within 24-48 hours.
All labs are charging Rs 9000 per test except Super Raligare which is Charging Rs 4500.
About high cost of test Dr Navin Dang (Dr Dangs Lab) says "The test is expensive, as the reagents, testing kits and other material are imported and we are not exempted from custom duty. It is costing us close to Rs 8,000 or more." According to sources in AIIMS, it costs the government around Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 for each test. ``The custom duty on reagents, enzymes, testing kits etc used by us is less as compared to what private labs have to pay. The cost is high as the material used in testing is very expensive."
On being asked about the drastic difference in pricing, Dr Sanjeev Choudhry, CEO, SRL, said, ``Profit margins in these tests are very low. Our price is low as we are buying the reagents and kits in large quantities. Our testing capacity is also more and there are several other factors that affect the cost of any test.
