Planning to buy a Covid self-test kit from a chemist in the vicinity? The Maharashtra government now plans to make it mandatory to produce a doctor’s prescription for purchase of these kits.
Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) minister Rajendra Shingane said the move was prompted after health department’s concerns.
“Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope expressed concern last week about the state government not getting accurate information about Covid cases in the state. First-hand authentic information is a concern because we don’t know how many people have bought these self-test kits and have been quarantined at home,” he told CNN News18.
The Maharashtra FDA is now coming up with a plan to make sure that Covid self-help kits are sold only on doctor’s prescription. “This is to make sure that we get to know the real figures in the state,” he said.
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When asked about the timeline of the decision, he said it will be taken in a day or two.
The department is already in consultation with the health department which had previously expressed concern about the lack of data regarding household testings.
Maharashtra Maharashtra health secretary Pradeep Vyas had urged people to report to the civic administration if they had tested positive and were quarantined at home.
Maharashtra has been reporting over 40,000 cases in the past few days. But the administration fears that cases might be higher compared to the reported numbers.
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