Kochi: Kerala government-run Medical Services Corporation (KMSC) on Tuesday told the High Court here that it can only supply 45 out of the 115 items requested by private labs so that they can conduct RT-PCR tests at the price of Rs 500 fixed by the state.
KMSC told the court that of the 115 items requested, it only has contracts for 45 items.
It also told Justice T R Ravi that some of the labs have installed different proprietary machines and each of them require different reagents for which manufacturers are also varying and therefore, it would be difficult to procure them in the small quantities required by the individual labs.
The corporation said that procuring such items in smaller quantities would defeat the purpose behind setting up of KMSC — to procure things in bulk so that it is cost effective.
Responding to the stand of KMSC, the labs contended that it indicated that the corporation’s earlier report arriving at a price of Rs 448.20 per test was an exercise…