Profits from Covid test just pure capitalism

The graphs plotting the profits of various medical companies during the Covid pandemic are spiralling upward at almost the same exponential rate as the number of new infections from the omicron variant.

It’s some small slice of good news, then, that the Competition Commission has forced two major pathology groups, Ampath and Lancet Laboratories, to slash the price they charge for the Covid PCR test to R500.

In the first days of the pandemic, when it was new and the number of tests still reasonably low, the charges were often up to R1 400.

Although that number has come down quite considerably, the commission ruled that the current R850 a test charge is still far too high.

ALSO READ: Competition Commission announces deal to lower price of Covid PCR test to R500

Whether that charge rises from collusion and unfair competition is something the commission didn’t express itself upon explicitly, but it did say the charges were “unfairly inflated”, “exorbitant” and unjustifiable”.

We cannot argue with that summation. It does make one wonder about the ethics of people who, in a medical emergency, seek to maximise their profits?

Capitalism is about making money – but at what human cost?

This sort of profiteering is ammunition for the government hardliners who want to push through the socialist orientated National Health Insurance.