Exclusive! In chat with Anil Singhvi, Thyrocare MD, Dr A Velumani, says haste to bring corona vaccine dangerous; must ensure it is 100% effective

In an exclusive chat with Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi, Dr. Velumani said that in April 2020 when they started conducting tests, they had the capacity to conduct only 400 tests every day, now they capacity has been increased to 20000 tests every day.  In past few months, Velumani said that he noticed people were more interested in getting reports quickly rather than getting an accurate report. 

Velumani said that RT-PCR test is intended for use by trained clinical laboratory personnel specifically instructed and trained. During this test, approximately 10% of the people who take test are positive while Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) testing shows only 2% people who take tests are positive. This makes the government also happy, however that 8% cases which are positive cases but falsely told negative, no one is taking responsibility of that or are worried about it. He added that even though existing capacity is enough to do more tests only 5000 Covid-19 tests are conducted daily.  

'NEWS पर VIEWS' में थायरोकेयर के MD डॉ. ए वेलुमणि ने कोरोना वैक्सीन लाने की जल्दबाजी को बताया खतरनाक, बोले- वैक्सीन का 100% असरदार होना बेहद जरूरी

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Dr. Velumani says he believes that Covid-19 issues would remain for next 5 years and the number of tests would keep on increasing going forward. Non-Covid business is highly impacted currently due to pandemic issues. If vaccine for Covid will be available, then it would be good for the company and he would be glad as non-Covid business would start gaining strength after development of vaccine.  
Velumani said that each and every technology has its own limitations for testing Covid-19. RT-PCR test is the best test for Covid-19 though it takes some time to derive results for the tests, but results of the tests are absolutely accurate. 

Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) came into the market as people wanted test results faster. Positive results mean it is Positive and a Negative result does not mean Negative in Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT). This implies that person who holds the negative report in hand after doing Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) may stand a chance to be positive also as the test is not accurate.  

He said states have different pricing policies for the tests which is disappointing. It is difficult to understand why there is so much variation in pricing in different states and why government is changing decision so many times. If Government intends to do free testing, they can definitely do it. From a business point of view, Thyrocare will conduct tests if Government tells them to and only if it is feasible to us, else there is no point doing the tests. If the profitability reduces day by day then it will not be possible for us to do the tests anymore, as it will not be profitable for Thyrocare.

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As a Citizen of India, Indians are living in a Democratic society; Government cannot force the company to do the testing at lower prices. If volume of the tests will be less and pricing will be less then Thyrocare will not make any profit and it will not be viable from business point of the view to do tests while if the volume of the tests is more and pricing is less, then it is reasonable for the business and profitability of Thyrocare. So, Dr. Velimani said it is difficult to comment at this stage on pricing. Business proposal is extremely important before coming to any conclusion regarding the pricing.