Close on the heels of capping prices of stents, Union health ministry is planning to cap pricing of various laboratory tests and medical procedures to rein in their exorbitant prices as well as to regulate quality and integrity of lab test reports. The health ministry has written to state governments asking them to come up with minimum and maximum prices of various medical procedures and path lab tests. The maximum rate of such procedures will be fixed by the ministry following the responses from the state governments, expected to be near CGHS rates. The government has issued a notification regarding minimum standards of path labs. The path labs covered under Clinical Establishment Act will have to comply with it.
This is aimed at regulating quality of lab tests. As per the notification, the path labs have been divided into three categories viz. basic, medium, advanced. The division has…
