Jaipur: Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Friday said that the Centre should not waste money on rapid antigen tests for coronavirus as their results are not credible.
He said that the state government had requested for these test kits from ICMR but it did not get them. Therefore, 200 kits were taken from a private hospital and their testing was done to find out the accuracy of the results, the minister said.
Opening a debate on COVID-19 management and economic impact of lockdown in the state assembly which resumed a week after a trust vote was passed, the minister said that the accuracy level of the tests kits, manufactured by a South Korean company, was 51 per cent.
The Rajasthan Assembly on Friday witnessed uproar during the debate, leading to repeated adjournment of the proceedings.
“The antigen tests are being used in many cities, including Delhi. Although we did not get the antigen test kit from ICMR and managed tests from a private hospital, their results were not found credible. We have informed ICMR about it,” Sharma said.
“Rajasthan has been a pioneer in the prevention of COVID-19. We have done about 20 lakh RT-PCR tests,” he said, referring to the more reliable method which requires a longer waiting period.
He added that the rapid testing kits obtained earlier from China did not produce credible results, and the state government had informed the Centre about this.
The minister claimed there were similar problems with the accuracy of the kits bought later from South Korea and said the Centre should not “waste” money on them.
Highlighting the work done for strengthening medical infrastructure in Rajasthan, the minister said that the state has developed a capacity of conducting 46,000 RT-PCR tests per day in 22 districts, and 286 dedicated coronavirus care centers have been set up.
The minister said that the death rate in coronavirus cases in the state is constantly decreasing and at present it is 1.38 per cent.
“We are doing excellent in other parameters too, including the recovery rate which is more than 76 per cent.
Plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients has started in Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Kota, and Udaipur. Soon it will be started in Ajmer as well.
A total of 211 critical patients have been given plasma therapy and all of them have recovered,” he said. (PTI)
