MANILA, Philippines — Doctors have expressed support for the Department of Health’s (DOH) move to recommend a price cap on the cost of COVID-19 tests, pointing out that it is not fair for the poor to be made to wait longer for their test results.
According to Dr. Maricar Limpin, the government should regulate the price of COVID-19 tests using the standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test because it is not right that just because a person has the capacity to pay, he is able to obtain his test results within hours while others may have to wait for a week for theirs.
“[By regulating,] we would somehow see equity in health care,” said Limpin, vice president of the Philippine College of Physicians.
Currently, the cost of a PCR test in public and private laboratories ranges from P1,500 to as much as P19,000. In its revised benefit package, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. only pays up to P3,409, if all the services for testing were procured and provided by the laboratory.