Amid the swirling speculations over the procurement of the rapid testing kits at a high cost, the state government of Tamil Nadu has, on Monday, asserted that it has decided to return the imported kits to China and to cancel the orders that have been placed for further procurements, as these rapid testing kits are delivering inaccurate results. 

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Vijayabaskar has put out the government's decision on Monday and he stated that the government hasn't met with any expenditure on the procurement of the testing kits from China and the kits that were delivered at the first stage of shipment would be returned to Chinese company of Wond Fo and the other orders placed before the company have been canceled. 

According to the reports, the Health Minister stated that the decision of returning the kits has been taken with accord to the orders of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Earlier on Monday, the ICMR has directed the states not to use the kits that were procured from the two Chinese companies Wond Fo and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics. 

The minister placed his response to the questions raised by DMK President MK Stalin and AMMK chief Dhinakaran on why the state government has procured the testing kits at the high cost. The reports stated that the actual cost of a kit is Rs 245 and the health minister said the government has placed the order with Wond Fo for Rs 600 per kit excluding taxes. Wond Fo is one of the seven companies that ICMR has approved for procuring the kits. 

On Monday, it came to the revelation that the ICMR has agreed to pay almost 2.5 times the price for importing the rapid kits. The Center has ordered five lakh kits from China at Rs 600 per kit. Vijayabaskar further stated that Kerala has placed the orders at Rs 699 per kit while Andhra Pradesh has kept the orders at Rs 730 per kit. 

Earlier on Monday, DMK Chief Stalin has asked the Tamil Nadu government why it has paid Rs 600 per kit while the cost stood at Rs 245. By highlighting the Delhi High court's order, the state opposition leader said that the Chinese company has sold the rapid test kits at Rs 225 per kit and it would come at Rs 245 including the transportation charge of Rs 20 per kit. However, the Tamil Nadu government maintained it has procured at the price fixed by the Central government.

The Center has said that it had not paid for the antibody kits. The rapid testing kits have earlier been considered as one of the measures to increase the testing for COVID-19 and most of the state governments had procured the kits from China to enhance the testing capabilities as the kits would deliver the results in thirty minutes. However, the Rajasthan government had, on last week, alarmed the rest of the country and alerted the Indian government that the rapid testing kits are delivering inaccurate results.