Private hospitals that do not have the permission to conduct Covid-19 tests cannot charge more than the government-capped rate to get the samples tested in other laboratories, the chairperson of the state clinical establishment regulatory commission said on Monday.

The bar will only apply to those who will give samples for tests at the outpatient department of hospitals, not those who are admitted in hospital.

Patients admitted in hospital can be billed a transportation cost or other necessary charges for carrying the sample to the laboratory, said retired judge Ashim Kumar Banerjee, the chairperson of the commission.

According to the latest state government order, no hospital or laboratory can charge more than Rs 950 for an RT-PCR test for Covid.

Banerjee made the observations while asking Zenith Hospital in Belghoria to return Rs 500 to a person who had complained that the hospital had charged him more than the government stipulated rate.

“All private hospitals are admitting Covid-19 patients but not all have the authorisation from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct Covid-19 tests. Only a few hospitals have the approval,” Banerjee said.

“The other hospitals collect samples and send them to authorised laboratories for tests. But they cannot charge more than the government stipulated rate. This will be applicable to people who are not admitted in hospital but are giving samples for Covid-19 tests,” said Banerjee.

“The hospitals can charge patients who are admitted a nominal transport cost or other necessary charges.”

He later told Metro that it was not possible for a patient admitted in a hospital to go to another hospital for the test. “A patient who is suspected to have been infected by the novel coronavirus has to be tested. But that patient cannot be taken outside the hospital. So the hospital will collect the patient’s sample and transport it to a laboratory authorised to conduct the Covid-19 test. In such cases, the hospital can charge a transportation cost,” he said.

Arnab Pal, a resident of Peerless Nagar in Sodepur, complained to the commission that Zenith Hospital had charged him Rs 500 more than the rate stipulated by the government.