'TN has not incurred any expenditure in importing rapid test kits'

Tamil Nadu Health Minister C.Vijayabaskar on Monday said the state has not incurred any expenditure on rapid test kits from China as the 24,000 kits imported are being returned to Chinese company Wond Fo and the other orders placed with it are cancelled.

He was responding to the questions raised by DMK President M.K.Stalin and AMMK leader T.T.V.Dhinakaran on the high cost of procuring the rapid test kits.

In a statement issued here, Vijayabaskar said as per the orders of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 24,000 kits imported from Wond Fo are being returned and the remaining purchase orders have been cancelled.

Vijayabaskar said the state government had placed an order with Wond Fo, a company approved by ICMR, at a price of Rs 600 excluding taxes.

He said the ICMR had approved seven manufacturers and Wond Fo is one of them.

Wond Fo had appointed Cadilla Pharma and Matrix Labs as importer agents. The last two companies has appointed several dealers like Aark Pharmaceutical, Shan-Bio Tech, Rare Metabolics and others across the country, Vijayabaskar said.

While the ICMR had placed an order for five lakh kits at Rs 600 per kit excluding tax with Aark Pharmaceutical, the Tamil Nadu government had placed its orders with Shan Bio-Tech at the same price.

Vijayabaskar said neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Kerala had placed their orders for Rs 730 and Rs 699 per unit, respectively, while the ICMR had placed its second order at Rs 795 per unit. IANS