How Much Should COVID-19 Testing Cost? DOH Survey Market

The Department of Health (DOH) is conducting market research to establish affordable prices for coronavirus tests, including the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test that it considers the “gold standard” for determining infection with the COVID-19 agent. .

“We have already instructed our interested offices to make preparations such as a survey on the price range of the different test methods currently on the market,” said Undersecretary of Health, María Rosario Vergeire, in an online information session. Thursday.

Vergeire said the study would allow the DOH to issue specific guidance should the Office of the President approve the health agency’s recommendation of price caps for coronavirus tests.

Price ceilings

Previously, the DOH submitted a proposal to Malacañang for the issuance of an executive order that would set caps on the prices of coronavirus tests, after the agency had observed that the prices of tests in laboratories and hospitals varied.

The proposal garnered support from the medical community, who said current prices were out of reach for the poor. Doctors said it was unfair for people who could pay for tests to get results in a matter of hours, while poor people had to wait weeks before they could get their test results.

DOH considers the PCR test to be the best for determining infection with SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes the severe respiratory illness COVID-19. But its price in public and private laboratories ranges between P1,500 and P19,000.

In your revised benefit package, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. pays only up to P3,409 if all services for testing were performed by the laboratory or hospital.

Vergeire said DOH had yet to complete the guidelines for the use of different tests for the COVID-19 virus.

“It has stalled,” he said. The guidelines were supposed to be issued on September 11, but the agency was still studying how the controversial antigen test could be used.

Previously, the World Health Organization said that the antigen test could not be used in specific circumstances, prompting “a sudden change in recommendation” from DOH experts, Vergeire said.

He said that an antigen assay must first be completed before the guidelines can be published. The trial takes place in the city of Baguio.

RICH MAN TEST The real-time polymerase chain reaction test for the novel coronavirus costs P1,500 to P19,000 in public and private labs. The Department of Health is conducting a market survey to put the test price within the reach of poor COVID-19 patients. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Saliva test

Vergeire said experts were evaluating other tests as well, including the saliva test.

The Philippine Red Cross and the Tropical Medicine Research Institute are studying the use of saliva tests to detect the coronavirus, he said.

There are 105 PCR testing labs and 33 Genexpert labs in the country that have tested 3.5 million people, the DOH said.

314,079 cases

On Thursday, the DOH reported 2,415 additional coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 314,079.

Of the new cases identified by 138 accredited laboratories, 930 were from Metro Manila, 238 from Cavite, 128 from Rizal, 123 from Laguna, and 103 from Negros Occidental.

The DOH said that 771 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors in the country to 254,223. However, he said 59 more patients had died, bringing the death toll to 5,562.

That left the country with 54,294 active cases, of which 86.6 percent were mild, 9.0 percent asymptomatic, 1.4 percent severe, and 3.1 percent critical.

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