Email sale data by 6 pm, daily: BMC to self-test kit manufacturers, suppliers, pharmacies

A man checks a packet of CoviSelf, one of the self-test kits, at a medical store in Sion on Friday. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued new guidelines to the manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacies of antigen self-test kits in the city, after concerns about non-declaration of results.

The civic body said it will soon issue rules for the e-commerce platforms selling home-test kits. According to the civic officials, around 3-3.5 lakh home-test kits have been supplied to Mumbai before January 10. However, the results of only around 98,000 individuals have been declared. The non-declaration of results makes it hard to track the patients and curb the further spread of the virus.

The new guidelines have instructed the manufacturer and chemists to track the supply and sale, and give the relevant information to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) every day before 6 pm.

What the rules say

Antigen kit manufacturers and distributors shall email the information of the number of kits sold to the chemists, pharmacies, medical stores and dispensaries in Mumbai in Form ‘A' to the FDA commissioner on whogmp.mahafda@smail.com, and also to the BMC's epidemiology cell on mcgm.hometests@gmail.com.

Chemists, pharmacies, medical stores and dispensaries shall email the details of home testing antigen kits sold to customers in Form ‘B' to the FDA commissioner on whogmp.mahafda@gmail.com, and to the BMC's epidemiology cell on mcgm.hometests@gmail.com, by 6 pm every day.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, "We have tried to develop a system to ensure all the home testing kits are regularised. If we don't get the result of a particular kit, we will contact the person through our ward war room."

The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved seven self-test kits so far, including CoviSelf by Mylab, CoviFind by Meril Diagnostics, PanBio by Abbott. The users are supposed to report the result through the mobile app of the manufacturers, but many skip this step.