The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has decided to cancel all further orders of ‘faulty’ rapid testing kits from China. The Indian government had placed orders with two Chinese companies for rapid testing kits. These testing kits were meant to test the presence of antibodies in blood samples in order to determine if the tested person was previously infected by the novel coronavirus.
The first batch of kits arrived last week, however, many states claimed that the kits were highly ‘faulty’ because they failed to detect antibodies from blood samples that were known to be infected. ICMR has reported that the kits also showed ‘wide variation’ in their sensitivity. ICMR has issued a statement claiming that all further orders have been cancelled from the two Chinese biomedical companies- Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics. ICMR has also claimed that it has asked all states to stop using the kits that were provided by these two companies so far.
However, Chinese authorities have claimed that ICMR did in fact approve the testing kits provided by these two companies, and the kits were only exported after the Indian government issued its approval.
“The quality of medical products exported from China is prioritised. It is unfair and irresponsible for certain individuals to label Chinese products as ‘faulty’ and look at issues with pre-emptive prejudice,” Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong said today.
The ICMR is also in soup for procuring these testing kits at an exorbitantly high price.
A case in the Delhi High Court has revealed that the Indian government paid twice the price of the testing kits. NDTV had earlier reported that the Indian distributor-Real Metabolics which has been distributing the kits in India sold the kits at an exorbitantly higher price. The case came to the forefront following a legal dispute filed by Real Metabolics claiming they had the sole right to sell these kits that were imported by Matrix following information that the Tamil Nadu government had bought them from another distributer.
According to a report by Moneycontrol, over 5 lakh kits that were ordered from Wondfo Biotech were bought at a price of Rs 245 per piece by the company that imported them. However, it was revealed that the distributers—Real Metabolics and Aark Pharmaceuticals sold each piece for Rs 600 to the government. This is 60% higher than what was paid to import the kits.
The government has come under fire by various opposition leaders. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a scathing attack on the government has questioned not just the government’s decision to but these kits for twice their value but also the decision to buy them from China in the first place when many countries all over the world reported an accuracy level of less than 30% from Chinese imported kits.
As early as March, Spain had decided to send back the testing kits it imported from China claiming that they were unreliable since they had an accuracy rate of less than 30 per cent. Apart from China, U.K., Turkey, Czech Republic and Philippines also reported that the kits imported from China were inaccurate.
In an article on The Print, Tharoor questions the government’s decision to buy these kits from the same Chinese companies which had been rejected by other countries.
“India went ahead and ordered from the same Chinese company — Guangzhou Wondfo — with which the UK government had a bad experience. Whether this reflects ineptitude or collusion – or worse – it is difficult to say a kind word about this decision. If the orders had already been placed before the bad news started coming in from abroad – a possible next line of defence for Modi government – why weren’t the orders cancelled, especially when it was anyway delayed? Why couldn’t we refuse delivery until China proved their test kits worked?”, Tharoor asked the government.
However defending ICMR’s decision, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) issued a statement explaining the government’s decision to go ahead and buy the kits from the above mentioned Chinese companies.
“For Wondfo, 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,” the statement read. Also, MoHFW claimed that IMR went ahead and placed orders with Wondfo since the company apparently had “the requisite international certifications.”
The statement also says that ICMR did try to procure the kits directly from Wondfo without a middle-man but encountered ‘logistical issues’ and so went ahead with procuring them from Real Metabolics, since they placed the cheapest bid.
India has been severely criticised for not carrying out enough tests and as more reports surface of people being asymptomatic to the virus, leading international experts have claimed that massive random testing is the only way to flatten the curve. With ICMR putting testing on hold because of the inaccuracy of the Chinese kits, India finds itself on the backfoot.
