COVID-19 PCR Test Price Slashed
Medical testing laboratories Ampath and Lancet have agreed that COVID 19 PCR tests will no longer cost R850 but R500 with immediate effect.
This comes after the Competition Commission received a formal complaint from the Council of Medical Schemes (CMS) against private pathology laboratories alleging that the price for supplying PCR tests for COVID-19 is unfairly inflated and unjustifiable.
The commission briefed the media on the ground breaking reduction on the cost ofCOVID-19 PCR tests on Sunday.
Between September and October this year, the commission said it was alerted through a number of meetings with the Health Department and healthcare funders of a possible pricing abuse for COVID-19 PCR tests to the detriment of vulnerable consumers.
The commission says it was alleged that private pathology laboratories have experienced substantial cost reductions in conducting COVID-19 PCR tests and were processing significant volumes, yet the price charged by them remained persistently high and unchanged at R850.
“We did find that the profit margins were very high. The commission will not be divulging that information. But they did see an abnormal profitability from the labs because of the cost of PCR tests.”
The commission says PCR tests have become essential in the fight against COVID-19 and it hopes the price reduction will help in the fight against the pandemic.
