HC overrules government, allows private labs to test for coronavirus in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The

Telangana high court

on Wednesday declared as unconstitutional the

state government

’s decision to confine

Covid-19 tests

to select government hospitals such as Gandhi Hospital and Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences.


The bench of Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice K Lakshman set aside a directive issued by Hyderabad district medical and health officer and said the government cannot compel people to get tested and treated at designated government hospitals.

Those who are willing to get their tests, isolation, and treatment for a price from the private sector at approved ICMR laboratories and hospitals, should be allowed to avail such facilities, the judgment said on a PIL filed by Ganta Jai Kumar of Hyderabad questioning the state’s policy.

By allowing people who can afford the private testing and treatment, the state could preserve its limited facilities for the poorest of the poor, the bench added. Telangana has so far been testing only those with symptoms of Covid-19, their contacts and those who have returned from foreign countries.

ICMR has already approved 12

private laboratories

in the state to conduct Covid-19 tests.

The bench said that other private hospitals and laboratories with requisite infrastructure and experienced doctors too can apply for permission to conduct tests and provide treatment and isolation. ICMR on its part must verify such hospitals and laboratories quickly to ensure that more tests. This will strengthen the state’s fight against the pandemic, the bench said.

The bench, during the course of hearing, made ICMR a party to the case. Advocate general B S Prasad argued that during

medical emergencies

and wars, the state has the right to arbitrarily restrict even the right to health, conferred under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The bench however disagreed and said an emergency of any sort is not an excuse to trample on the rights under Article 21. The judges added that the courts have the power to ensure that the state remains fair, just, and acts reasonably even during emergencies.

In any case, the state is not testing the asymptomatic, hence there was nothing wrong in the asymptomatic getting themselves tested at approved private laboratories, the bench said. Moreover, the Centre has already roped in the private sector in the fight against Covid-19, it added.

Telangana has a population of about 3.5 crore and a handful of government testing centres and hospitals cannot be expected to deal with a possible surge in infections which is likely to happen in view of the easing of lockdown, the bench said.

The judges observed that government authorities and doctors have been encouraging the poor to approach corporate hospitals under the state’s Aarogyasri health scheme for various ailments. They cannot now cast aspersions on private hospitals when it comes to Covid-19 testing and treatment, they added. That too at a time when the state’s poor medical infrastructure was exposed and mustering support of private sector looked essential.

Reminding the state that the ICMR has permitted 111 private laboratories to conduct Covid-19 tests across the country, the bench said that the Union government and ICMR were trying take the private sector on board to stop the pandemic.