Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Now Covid-19 symptomatic patients willing to take a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) will not have to wait. They can buy a self-test kit for just Rs.250 from a chemist’s shop without a doctor’s prescription, test themselves at home in two minutes and get the report as well in the next 15 minutes.
This has become possible because of the Pune-based MyLab Discovery Solutions, which has developed India’s first self-use, do-it-yourself, RAT kit for Covid-19, called CoviSelf.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) had approved its use on Wednesday. But the regulator clarified that it is advisable only for symptomatic individuals and people who come in contact with laboratory-tested Covid-19 positive people. Indiscriminate testing, however, is not advised, ICMR said.
MyLabs said the test kits will be available for use from next week in more than 700,000 pharmacies across India. It will also be distributed through the company’s online pharmacy partners, Sujeet Jain, Director, said, adding the firm is targeting to reach 90% pin code regions in India.
“It takes 2 minutes to conduct the test and 15 minutes to get the result. This test is for self-use. If you test positive via this, there’s no need for an RT PCR test as per ICMR. Any adult can use this kit by reading our manual,” he added.
Last year, MyLab’s indigenous Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) test was the first to win approval from the ICMR for Covid-19 testing in the country.
According to experts, the RAT is less accurate than the RTPCR tests. They suggest that RAT should only be used to test symptomatic patients to ensure correct results. The RAT tests are less expensive and results can be obtained in just 15-30 minutes. Their use is considered vital for reducing the burden on testing labs that evaluate RTPCR samples.
MyLab’s self-use RAT kit will cost Rs 250 and will be available for purchase at all major pharmacies without a prescription.
Earlier this week, the Centre, in its standard operating procedure (SOP) for Covid-19 treatment in rural areas, had stressed the need to ramp up rapid testing in rural districts. The Union Health Ministry said RAT kits should be made available at all public health facilities including sub-centres or health and wellness centres and primary health centres.
The Centre had also emphasised the need for providing all suspected Covid-19 patients in rural areas with a self-isolation kit with essential medicines and devices such as pulse-oximeter.