The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a circular on Friday, 14 January, about monitoring the sale and use of at-home COVID testing kits in Mumbai.
The BMC has stated that it is now expected that anyone testing positive after taking a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) or a home testing kit should be reported to the ICMR by the lab that conducted the test, or by the individual themselves, through the ICMR website or mobile app, reported The Times of India.
The BMC has also asked all the manufacturers and distributors of home testing kits to provide daily updates on the number of such kits sold. The manufacturers and distributors are expected to email the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner and the BMC's Epidemiology Cell by 6 pm every day.
Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar also stated that anyone purchasing self-test kits will have to provide their Aadhaar card details to the chemists, in order for a record to be maintained.
How Health Updates Will Be Tracked on Use of Home Testing Kits
The BMC has reportedly asked the FDA commissioner to instruct chemists and pharmacists to inform the people buying the tests that they need to report their results on the ICMR app.
Here is the process that is expected to be followed, as per the BMC circular:
Chemists and medical store owners shall issue a bill to the buyer for home testing kits and maintain a record of customers to whom the home testing kits have been sold.
The information shall be shared by the chemists and medical store owners every day by 6 pm by email to the FDA commissioner and the BMC’s Epidemiology Cell.
The data relating to home testing kits, which will be received from manufacturers, distributors, and chemists, will be monitored by the BMC’s Epidemiology Cell, and forwarded to the ward-level medical officers for further action.
The ward team will ensure that the person shall upload the result on the ICMR website/app and monitor the health of the patient or concerned person.
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