Accuracy of ICMR testing kits questionable: Rajasthan govt

April 21, 2020 17:19

Ahead of the ICMR asking states not to use their testing kits for two days, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that the state has in fact stopped conducting rapid tests for COVID-19 as the accuracy of kits from Indian Council of Medical Research is "questionable".

"We had received rapid testing kits from ICMR and it was used in Rajasthan. We formed a committee of the head of our Microbiology Department and head of our Medicine Department to see if these tests are effective. Its accuracy was supposed to be 90 per cent, but it turned out to be 5.4 per cent," Sharma said.

"We did not leave any procedural loophole. We kept in mind ICMR guidelines for testing. Still it did not meet the standards, so we stopped the rapid tests. We have written to ICMR that we will not conduct it as the accuracy is questionable. We are waiting for a reply," he added.

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