BL Premium reports that the Competition Commission (CC) is scrutinising the price of Covid PCR tests, which it says have failed to come down despite falling input costs and the economies of scale enjoyed by the biggest laboratories.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are considered the gold standard for Covid-19 testing and are required for international travel and hospital procedures, placing a burden on travellers, patients and medical schemes alike. "We don’t understand why the price hasn’t come down. Action from our side is likely to be imminent," said the CC’s chief economist, James Hodge. Demand for testing is modest at present because new cases are at their lowest ebb since May 2020, but experts expect a fourth wave in December, driving up demand for tests. Laboratories charged R1,000 to R1,500 per test at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but the price fell to R850 after the health sector was granted a block exemption to the Competition Act’s restrictions on collective bargaining in March 2020. SA’s three biggest players — Ampath, Lancet and PathCare — charge R850 a test at present. By contrast the government’s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) bills provinces at R507 a test and charges private sector patients R650 a test. "Our expectation is that firms would compete to draw testing. It’s strange that they are not," Hodge noted. SA has spent an estimated R9bn on Covid-19 tests since the pandemic began. The health department’s acting director-general, Nicholas Crisp, said the government was concerned about the cost of Covid-19 tests and officials were working closely with the CC.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Covid-19 testing is too expensive and too difficult in South Africa, at GroundUP
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page