Will return faulty antibody test kits to China, says Dr Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi, Apr 24: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that faulty antibody test kits will be returned, irrespective of which country they were procured from, including China.

Dr Harsh Vardhan and MoS (Health and Family Welfare) Ashwini Choubey hold a meeting via video conference with State health ministers, to review actions on COVID-19 management.

The union minister also said the country had not paid anything to any country in exchange of antibody test kits.

"Faulty antibody test kits will be returned, irrespective of which country they were procured from, including China. We have not paid a single penny yet", says Dr Harsh Vardhan.

It can be seen that India imported almost one million kits from China to ramp up testing as according to rough estimates, the country needs to do 1,00,000 rapid tests per day.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday told states to stop using the newly-distributed Chinese rapid testing kits to detect coronavirus for two days after huge variations in the accuracy of results were noticed across regions.

Earlier, the Rajasthan government too stopped using the China-made rapid testing kits for coronavirus after they delivered inaccurate results.

Spain, the second-largest counts of positive cases returned around 6,00,000 faulty kits to its manufacturer, a Chinese company by the name of Shenzhen Bioeasy Technology.

The British government is seeking a whopping $20 million refund from the two Chinese companies for the same.

Italy and Netherlands have also halted testing with Chinese kits.

Meanwhile, Dr Harsh Vardhan, during video conference said to the states' health ministers that wherever there is a need, the Centre has sent senior officers to suppport.

Vardhan also said that the officers are there for hand-holding & cooperation so that the Centre get feedback on how to further extend help.