Telangana health minister Etala Rajender on Tuesday sought to defend his government for conducting lesser tests for Coronavirus in the state, compared to large scale testing in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
For the first time after several days, Rajender revealed the total number of tests done in Telangana till date – 19,063, as against 80,334 tests in Andhra Pradesh. There was nothing great in conducting more tests and reporting more cases, he said.
“What is more important is that the number of positive cases in Telangana has been coming down. Since April 22, the state has been recording only single digit cases. And number of deaths has also been stabilised,” the minister said.
Rajender made it clear that the testing in Telangana was being done purely in accordance with the guidelines issued by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
“We don’t need to conduct tests on everybody having cold, fever and cough. If that is the case, lakhs of people in the state would have been standing before the labs by now,” he said.
He said only people with severe symptoms are being tested, hence lesser number of tests every day.
“Moreover, the tests are very costly. That is precisely why we have not allowed private testing labs to conduct the tests, they would fleece people and collect huge amounts. If there are any genuine cases, they can come and get tested the designated government labs,” he said.
Eatala also reminded that Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had strictly banned import of rapid test kits from China and other countries, as these kits would not serve any purpose.
“Our stand is vindicated now. The ICMR has asked all the states to stop using rapid test kits,” he said.