DOH pressed to publish costs of COVID swab tests

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Sunday urged the Department of Health (DOH) to publish on its website the official prices of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for coronavirus infection being offered by public and private laboratories in the country.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said he had received reports that several private hospitals were collecting specimens from patients, sending these to public laboratories for testing for the COVID-19 virus, then charging the patients at exorbitant prices.

“We cannot understand why up to now the DOH’s Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau has not bothered to publish the cost of every COVID-19 PCR test in every licensed laboratory, for all to see. They should stop hiding the cost,” Pimentel said in a statement.

He demanded “absolute pricing transparency” to protect the public and help patients choose the test price they could afford.

“[T]he DOH’s failure to promote pricing transparency from the start is the single biggest reason why costs remain elevated at the expense of consumers,” he said.

“Pricing transparency is important because consumers may have to rely on COVID-19 testing for a very long time, considering that it may take the government three years to vaccinate 60 percent of the national population against the virus,” he added.

Pimentel also urged the DOH to require all laboratories to display prominently on their premises and publish on their websites only one price for the virus test to discourage hidden charges, including sudden extra charges for so-called express results.

New infections

He said private hospitals should not charge their patients excessively if they were piggybacking on public laboratories.

On Sunday, the DOH reported that 1,085 more people had tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 449,400.

Quezon City recorded the highest number of new infections, 103, followed by Rizal province (46), Makati City (44), Manila (43) and Pasig City (39).

The DOH also reported 9,269 new recoveries, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors in the country to 418,687. But the death toll rose to 8,733 as three more patients had died of the severe respiratory disease.

The recoveries and deaths left the country with 21,980 active cases, of which 84.4 percent were mild, 5.8 percent is asymptomatic, 0.33 percent moderate, 3.2 percent severe, and 6.3 percent critical. —REPORTS FROM NESTOR CORRALES AND DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN INQ