COVID-19 test kits should be made available at lowest cost: Delhi High Court

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed that COVID-19 test kits should be made available to the general public at the lowest price possible so that people's health can be safeguarded at a time when the country is going through an unprecedented medical crisis affecting public order. 

Justice Najmi Waziri issued the direction to all three private companies, which had entered into an agreement, to import 10 lakh test kits from China and distribute them here at a price not beyond Rs 400 per kit inclusive of GST.

"The country is going through an unprecedented medical crisis affecting public order. People have been cloistered in their homes or constrained to stay wherever they were on March 24. A profit mark-up of Rs 155 that is 61 percent on the landed cost price of Rs 245 is much on the higher side and in any case more than sufficient for the seller," Wazir said. 

Observing that the economy is virtually at a standstill for the last one month, the court said that there is an element of "disquiet apropos" one's safety.