By IANS,
New Delhi: With each test to detect swine flu virus proving very expensive as the kit and reagents are imported from the US, India’s top medical research agency, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is planning to develop a low-cost testing kit, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Monday.
Speaking to reporters here Monday, Azad said the virus infection, which has killed six people and affected 864 people in the country so far, is spreading in the country. The government is planning to procure an additional 22,000 swine flu testing kits, he said.
“To ensure availability of adequate testing reagents, it has been decided that another 22,000 kits would be procured immediately, in addition to the 27,000 kits recently procured,” he said.
“Simultaneously, the ICMR would examine the possibility of developing low-cost testing kits, which could then be deployed throughout the country,” he added.
Azad said the government is also planning to buy cheaper chemicals used for testing influenza A virus from a German-based company.
Till now the government has been procuring the reagents and chemicals from the US firm Biosystem.
The health minister said each test costs a minimum of Rs.5,000, while for those that turned positive the test cost was Rs.10,000.
“It takes a minimum of six hours for a test to return positive,” he added.
Since May 16, when the first case was reported in Hyderabad, more than 4,000 people have been tested for influenza A (H1N1) virus. Of these, 840 people have tested positive, he added.