Only Aadhaar, no doctor prescription mandatory for COVID19 test: Delhi HC

This came after the Delhi High Court bench headed by Justice Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad directed the Delhi government to re-strategies the COVID testing plans to make that any person who wants to get tested can do so without a prescription issued by a doctor.

The court ordered that doctor's prescription will not be mandatory from now for those going voluntarily for RT/PCR test to detect COVID-19 infection in the national capital. However, people need to carry Aadhaar card for Delhi address proof and fill up a form as prescribed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for COVID-19 testing.

The court noted that there was a sharp increase in the number of cases in Delhi and asked private laboratories to allow 2,000 COVID-19 tests a day for those who want to undergo the voluntarily screening. Till now, it was mandatory for a person to produce a doctor's prescription or symptoms to get tested for the virus, but the recent orders will bring ease to those who were willing to take the test.

Commenting on the same, Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted; "Delhi government has increased testing multi-fold. I have directed Health Minister this morning that Doctor's prescription shud not be asked for testing. Anyone can get himself tested."

The court also noted that the capacity of around 12,000 tests per day is available with the Delhi government. In view of the recent increase in COVID-19 positive cases, the Delhi government had earlier said that it is scaling up the number of daily tests to 40,000 daily.

The majority of the COVID-19 tests being conducted are rapid antigen tests that give results quickly, reports PTI.

Also Read: Portable, point-of-care COVID-19 test could bypass the lab: Study