In a great step in public interest, the Telangana government has fixed the fees for COVID-19 tests in private labs, hospitals. The cost of conducting a COVID-19 test in a private lab has been fixed at Rs 2,200 and the fee for treatment of the infection in corporate hospitals Rs 4,000 per day. 

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Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao held a review with the chief secretary and other senior officials and announced some key decisions. One of them is giving nod to private labs who have taken permission to conduct tests. The fee for the test is Rs 2,200, Health Minister E Rajender has confirmed. The charge for treatment of patients in ICU without ventilator support has been fixed at Rs 7,500 per day, while it would be Rs 9,000 per day for those who are on such support, he said. Since the cost of some anti-viral injections is in the range of Rs 40,000 Rs 50,000, such treatment can be charged separately, he said.

"The government would like to convey to the private players not to consider views of those who would like to get tested without having any symptoms. The information related to tests and those undergoing treatment at private hospitals should be shared with the government as preventive measures, including tracing of contacts and others, need to be taken. The chief minister has allowed recruitment of healthcare personnel on a temporary basis, if necessary, to conduct a survey of every house in Hyderabad for influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), pneumonia cases and others," Health Minister E Rajender said.

He said Telangana is in a position to conduct about 7,500 tests per day. People should utilise government healthcare facilities and if those who can pay to go to private hospitals, they can do so, he said. The state government has received requests from some people who wanted to choose the private sector, Rajender said.