Concerns have been raised over the request made by the Board of Investment (BOI) urging factory owners to direct their employees to get PCR tests done through private hospitals. Sri Lanka Association of Government Medical Laboratory Technologists (SLGMLT) President Ravi Kumudesh told The Sunday Morning that the medical laboratory technologists who conduct the tests have the capacity to conduct them without the assistance of private hospitals. “We can conduct more than 4,000 tests per day, and conducting tests for factory employees will not be a problem for the government laboratories,” he said, adding that the SLGMLT was not consulted by the BOI before making the request. He went on to charge that there were issues regarding the tests conducted by the private hospitals as there was nobody to take responsibility. When contacted, Association of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes (APHNH) President Dr. Lakith Peiris told The Sunday Morning that the respective private hospitals should take responsibility over the PCR tests conducted by them. Earlier, following the BOI request, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP S.M. Marikkar raised concerns over the inability of the government hospitals to conduct PCR tests, stressing that the factory owners would have to bear the total cost of the PCR tests, which would be millions of rupees. MP Marikkar further noted that taking into consideration the situation faced by the factory owners due to the Covid-19 pandemic-related financial crisis, the factory owners would be further hampered by the decision taken by the BOI.