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

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

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

Further action with regards to the rapid testing kits will be taken after the ICMR response, he added.

State's Health Minister Raghu Sharma earlier said the kits gave only 5.4 per cent accurate results against the expectation of 90 per cent accuracy and therefore the kits were of no benefit.

We have written to ICMR asking them what to do. We are waiting for their response. The rapid test results were negative even on positive patients, the minister said.

The chief minister subsequently told reporters during a video conference, Rajasthan is leading in conducting number of tests but unfortunately, the 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. The 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 the Sawai Man Singh government hospital here was set up earlier by the government to examine the efficacy of kits and the committee found that only 5.4 per cent test results were accurate.

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

He said 168 tests were conducted through rapid testing kits.

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

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

Rajasthan had started conducting tests through rapid testing kits from Friday in the state's hotspots, starting from Jaipur.

Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said the kits were made in China.

The state government had procured 30,000 kits through ICMR for free while 10,000 kits were purchased with the per kit costing Rs. 540 plus taxes.

The rapid testing kits, through which blood samples are tested, were aimed at speeding up screening and detection of the suspected coronavirus patients.

It was not a confirmatory test and PCR based test was required for the confirmation of a positive result.