DILG wanted to have a price standardization for COVID-19 RT-PCR tests in both public and private laboratories.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) was calling for the price standardization for the RT-PCR test for COVID-19 in order to allow more people to avail of it.
This, after the Department of Health (DOH) last week had moved to regulate the cost of COVID-19 swab tests.
To recall, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online forum last week that they submitted a recommendation for an “Executive Order” because they noticed the different pricing on how much a COVID-19 swab test costs in different laboratories.
In a statement, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday said that everyone should be given the chance to have a COVID-19 swab test by standardizing its price on both government and private hospitals.
Año also said that standardizing the price of COVID-19 swab test was one of the best options in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease. In addition, Año said that the said price range was “way above the purchasing power of ordinary Filipinos”.
Moreover, Año noted that the majority of Filipinos would spend their money in order to buy food and other necessities and to follow the minimum health protocols in order to prevent the contamination instead of taking the COVID-19 swab test.
READ ALSO: DOH Moves To Regulate Cost Of RT-PCR Test For COVID-19
In a previous report on GMA News Online, the cost of Reverse Transcription – Polymerase Chain Reaction tests ranging from PHP 4,600 to PHP 8,150, adding that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) covered the cost of COVID-19 swab tests of up to PHP 3,409.
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