IIT-Delhi has developed a test kit for under Rs 500/-. It will be available to the public for less than 600/-.
Current Test Kit costs Rs 4500/-. This kit has been approved by ICMR and will be used for testing in Government hospitals.
Releasing the test kit, the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that this was a step towards self-reliance.
From IIT Delhi the following people worked on the development process Prof. Vivekanandan Perumal , Prashant Pradhan (PhD Scholar), Ashutosh Pandey (PhD Scholar), Praveen Tripathi (PhD Scholar), Dr. Akhilesh Mishra, Dr. Parul Gupta, Dr. Sonam Dhamija, Prof. Manoj B. Menon, Prof. Bishwajit Kundu and Prof. James Gomes.
The base price of the RT-PCR assay is Rs 399. Even after adding the RNA isolation and laboratory charges, the cost per test will be considerably cheaper compared to currently available kits in the market. The Minister further informed that IIT Delhi has given license to 10 companies to manufacture COVID-19 diagnostic kit using the technology developed by its researchers.
In April 2020, IIT Delhi became the first academic institution to obtain the ICMR’s approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic assay. It was also the first probe-free assay for COVID-19 approved by the ICMR. The assay was validated at the government’s medical research body with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%.
This kit will be manufactured by Delhi NCR-based Newtech Medical Devices.
This kit has been approved by ICMR and DGCI for very high sensitivity and specificity.