Price Ceiling for Covid-19 Swab Test Set at Rp 900,000

AFP/BAY ISMOYO

An employee works on the production line of COVID-19 coronavirus vaccines at the Bio Farma Pharmacy, which will produce the vaccine early next year with a production capacity of 250 million vaccines a year, in Bandung, West Java on August 12, 2020. - Indonesia on August 11 launched human trials of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine with some 1,600 volunteers slated to take part in the six-month study.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government has set a price ceiling for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nasopharyngeal swab test at Rp 900,000 (about US$62) in a bid to control swab test prices at privately owned health facilities.

The calculation of the price ceiling takes into account numerous components, including service fees for doctors and medical workers as well as personal protective equipment and reagents; electricity, telephone, waste and equipment maintenance costs, administrative costs including registration fees and the cost of delivering the test results.

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"Based on the calculation of the Health Ministry and the BPKP [Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), the price ceiling for a swab test has been set at Rp 900,000. We will conduct periodic evaluation by taking into account changes in the prices of the components involved in the test,” said Abdul Kadir, the acting director general at the health services department of the Health Ministry in Jakarta on Friday (2/10/2020).

The price ceiling, Kadir said, applied to all coronavirus tests, including those that offer rapid results.

Capping the price of tests, according to Kadir, is necessary to overcome price disparities in hospitals and other health facilities. It is also hoped that limiting the price will see more people pay for tests themselves.

The price ceiling for swab tests is currently being communicated to hospitals and health facilities.

The price ceiling will take affect after the issuance of a circular on the matter by the government. “We hope the circular will be published on Monday [5/10],” said Kadir. The price ceiling for swab tests is currently being communicated to hospitals and health facilities.

Currently, the cost of a PCR test also depends on the waiting time for the test results. The sooner the test result comes out, the higher the price.

BPKP deputy head for supervision of government agencies in the fields of politics, law and security, Iwan Taufiq Purwanto, said compliance with the price ceiling for independent swab tests at hospitals and health facilities would be strictly monitored. The central government would also provide guidance to local governments in carrying out the supervision, he said.

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Mirta Hediyati Reksodiputro, a lecturer at the School of Medicine at the University of Indonesia / Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, said that, in addition to setting a price ceiling, the government also needed to standardize the quality of PCR tests in the country.

Kompas

Indonesian President Joko Widodo wearing a protective mask and face shield talks as he inspects the third phase trial for COVID-19 vaccine in Bandung, Indonesia, August 11, 2020.

In practice, there are different standards in the PCR tests carried out in several health facilities, such as taking specimen samples from the person being examined. There are health facilities that only collect specimens through a nasopharyngeal swab. In fact, the specimen for Covid-19 examination should be taken both through nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs.

"The waiting time for the results of the swab test should also be shortened. The time to get the results of the swab tests will determine the effectiveness of case tracing so that transmission can be controlled,” said Mirta.

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Based on data from the Covid-19 Handling Task Force, the daily tally of new cases reached 4,317 on 2 Oct. 2020, bringing the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 295.499. Of the total, 221.340 patients have recovered and 10,972 have died.

Vaccine progress

In a closed-door meeting between Vice President Ma\'ruf Amin and Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in Jakarta on Friday, it was confirmed that about three million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be imported from China in November could be used immediately.

Health workers, members of the Indonesian Military, the National Police and the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), as well as those involved in handling the Covid-19 pandemic, will be prioritized for the vaccine.

Meanwhile, progress on the domestically developed Red and White vaccine has reached 50 percent. "We are currently preparing the protein for animal testing," the head of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Amin Soebandrio, said in Jakarta on Friday. (TAN/AIK/INA)