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The only public procurement of PCR tests available publicly, which was made by the Republic Health Insurance Fund this summer, shows that while the price of the acquisition of the tests themselves was made in a realistic framework, the acquisition of consumables multiplied.
Photo: EPA-EFE / OXFORD UNIVERSITY JOHN CAIRNSThat is, the RHIF signed a contract for the purchase of 30,000 PCR tests for around 12 million dinars, so a test was paid for around 400 dinars, which, according to geneticist Oliver Stojković, professor at the Faculty of Medicine, it is a realistic price.
On the other hand, a contract was signed for the supply of consumables for a total value of 63 million, which, as Stojković explains, is many times more than the purchase of the same items that his Faculty of Medicine would pay for.
The contract posted on the public procurement portal stated that RHIF needed to purchase consumables, including filter accessories (490 packs of ten accessory boxes), deep burner plates (3,150 packs with two plates), and skirted PCR plates. 140 packages of ten plates).
Oliver Stojković explains that if you look at the prices at which the Faculty of Medicine purchases this material, it means that about two million dinars should be reserved for the first article, five million for the second and less than half a million for the third.
The total recruitment in that case would be around seven and a half million dinars, that is, eight times less than what the RHIF paid, judging by the available documents.
– It seems they lost one more zero, says Stojković.
Currently, this is the only public procurement available to the public for PCR testing carried out by RHIF, so it is not possible to compare at what prices the national fund purchased tests and consumables on other occasions.
PCR tests have become more expensive this week, so from the beginning of next year, it will be 9,000 dinars for Serbian citizens and 18,000 for foreigners.
Speaking to RTS yesterday about this price increase, a member of the crisis staff, Tanja Jovanović, said that it was still about real prices.
He pointed out that the price of the test and the PCR service depends on the price of the test, other consumables and the team of experts, and when all that is added the price of 6,000 was not enough and that is why the working group asked that it be correct the price.
– The first is the price of the test – it must be a commercial test, which has its price, we have an offer from several manufacturers, the highest quality are the most expensive, the average value is taken because different laboratories use different tests and that way we can cover costs, said Jovanovic.
On the other hand, Oliver Stojković pointed out that the actual price of the PCR test, including all costs and salaries, should not exceed 3,000 dinars.
As you said, such a high price can only be explained by the high purchase prices of the consumables, which were bought at too high prices.
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