Tamil Nadu returns 24,000 Rapid Test Kits for COVID-19 after ICMR's revised advisory

New Delhi: Tamil Nadu on Monday (April 27) returned as many as 24,000 Rapid Test Kits following the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) advisory issued to states asking them no to use rapid antibody test kits from two Chinese companies due to quality issue. 

Earlier in the day, the ICMR issued a revised advisory to state governments regarding Rapid Antibody Blood tests. The states were asked to stop using COVID-19 rapid testing kits procured from China due to their poor quality. The government said that not a single rupee will be lost in cancelling the orders as payments were not made to the Chinese suppliers.

India procured around five lakh rapid antibody test kits from the two Chinese firms, Guongzhou Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostics, and they were distributed to several states reporting rising cases of the coronavirus infection.

In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the ICMR asked them to stop using the kits saying it found "wide variation" in effectiveness of the equipment supplied by the two Chinese firms despite promise of good performance.

"The ICMR has not made any payment in respect of these supplies. Because of the due process followed (not going for procurement with 100 per cent advance amount), Government of India does not stand to lose a single rupee," the health ministry said, in the midst of a raging controversy over the procurement.

As many as 81 people were discharged today following recovery from COVID-19 as 52 tested positive for the contagion, including a one-year-old child, taking the number of cases in Tamil Nadu to 1,937, according to the state government.

As key urban regions of the state entered the second day of complete lockdown, the active number of cases as on date stood at 809 and those discharged was higher at 1,101. From various hospitals, 81 were discharged and testing of 1381 samples were under process in various labs and the fatalities remained at Sunday's count of 24, a Tamil Nadu government bulletin said.

The tests are done in 30 government and 11 private labs all over Tamil Nadu and today alone 6,753 people were tested and cumulatively 86,339 have been tested (RT-PCR test). As many as 94,781 samples have so far been tested which includes repeat specimen from the same persons for confirmatory purposes.

Chennai, leading the red zone of Tamil Nadu had nearly all of the new cases today (47) and with this, 570 people had tested positive for the infection in the state capital.

Rapid Antibody tests: HealthMin clarifies on controversy over prices 

Union Ministry of Health clarified on the facts on the controversy around prices of Rapid Antibody tests. It said: 

The ICMR makes procurement decisions. Testing is one of the most crucial weapons to fight COVID-19 and ICMR is doing everything it can to ramp up testing. This requires procurement of kits and supplying them to states. This procurement is being undertaken when globally, there is a huge demand for these test kits and various countries are applying their full might, monetary and diplomatic, to acquire them.

ICMR’s first attempt to procure these kits did not elicit any response from the suppliers. Its second attempt got adequate responses. Of these responses, taking sensitivity and specificity in mind, kits of 2 companies (Biomedemics and Wondfo) were identified for procurement. Both had the requisite international certifications.

For Wondfo, the evaluation committee got 4 bids and the corresponding quotes received were Rs 1,204, Rs. 1,200, Rs. 844 and Rs. 600. Accordingly, bid-offer of  Rs. 600 was considered as L-1.

ICMR also tried to procure the kits directly from Wondfo company in China through CGI. However, the quotation received from direct procurement had the following issues:

-The quotation was FOB (Free on Board) without any commitment to logistics issues.
-The quotation was on the basis of 100% direct advance without any guarantees.
-There was no commitment to timelines.
-Rates were communicated in US dollars without any clause for accounting for fluctuations in prices.
-Hence, it was decided to go Wondfo’s exclusive distributor for India for the kit who quoted an all-inclusive price for FOB (logistics) without any clause for advance.

Notably, it was the first-ever effort by any Indian agency to procure such kits and the rate quoted by the bidders was the only reference point.

After receipt of some supplies, ICMR has again conducted quality checks on these kits in field conditions. Based on the scientific assessment of their performance, the order in question (Wondfo) along with the order in respect of another make found under-performing have been cancelled.

The ICMR has not made any payment whatsoever in respect of these supplies. Because of the due process followed (not going for procurement with 100% advance amount), GoI does not stand to lose a single rupee.