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

South Africans will start paying less for the Covid-19 PCR test after the Competition Commission reached an agreement with two major laboratories, Ampath and Lancet Laboratories, on the reduction of Covid-19 PCR test prices.

In terms of the agreement, Ampath and Lancet Laboratories agreed to reduce the price of the Covid-19 PCR test with immediate effect from R850 to less than R500 per test.

The commissioner of the Competition Commission, Tembinkosi Bonakele, on Sunday announced the agreement during a virtual media briefing.

“The Competition Tribunal upon application by the parties has confirmed the groundbreaking agreement between the Competition Commission and each of the two largest private pathology laboratories in South Africa. The agreement settled a dispute on the pricing of Covid-19 PCR tests,” Bonakele said.

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Bonakele said the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for Covid-19, which is done in a lab, was critical during the pandemic especially as more companies and higher learning institutions require unvaccinated people to take the test, at their own cost, in order to continue to gain access to their premises.

“The PCR Covid-19 test has become essential in the fight against Covid-19, whilst there are other forms of testing, PCR tests are required by doctors and various institutions,” he said.

The commission on Saturday said it had reached an agreement with Ampath and Lancet Laboratories on the reduction of Covid-19 PCR test prices.

This followed a formal complaint received by the commission from the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) against private pathology laboratories, alleging that the price for supplying PCR tests for coronavirus was unfairly inflated, exorbitant and unjustifiable for South African consumers.

The price charged by private pathology laboratories for a Covid PCR test is said to be around R850 per test.

The Competition Commission said between September and October this year, it was alerted through a number of meetings and telephonic discussions, including discussions with the Department of Health and healthcare funders, of a possible pricing abuse for Covid-19 PCR tests.

“In the main, it was alleged that private pathology laboratories have experienced substantial cost reductions in conducting Covid-19 PCR tests and were processing significant volumes (especially during infection waves), yet the price charged by the private pathology laboratories for Covid-19 PCR tests remained persistently high and unchanged at R850,” the commission said in a statement.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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