PH Red Cross starts offering cheaper saliva, swab tests — Gordon

(FILE) Senator and Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon leads the launching of the Saliva Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction Pilot Testing held at the Philippine Red Cross Logistics and Multi-Purpose Center Headquarters in Mandaluyong City on January 12, 2021. The Philippine Red Cross highlights saliva test as easier and more affordable Covid-19 testing alternative. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Cheaper saliva and swab tests are now available from the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) starting Saturday (Sept. 4, 2021) Senator Richard Gordon who is also PRC chairman, announced.

The PRC slashed the amounts they charge for their RT-PCR tests from P3,800 to P2,800 (swab test) and from P2,000 to P1,500 (saliva test).

“The government will save five million pesos a day once we reduce the prices of the RT-PCR tests,” Gordon said in a statement.

The national government, through state-insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), is shouldering the fees for COVID-19 testing of local government units, migrant Filipino workers, and health care workers.

The PRC last year suspended its COVID-19 tests for the government after Philhealth accumulated P930 million in unpaid past tests.

The tests have since resumed.

According to the PRC, it still leads in terms of COVID-19 testing after conducting 4,074,794 swab and saliva tests, which is about 25 percent of the entire tests conducted in the country.

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