LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has reduced the price of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test of Covid-19, bringing it down to a maximum of Rs 4, 500.
According to a letter issued here on Thursday, private hospitals, laboratories and their collection centres in the province have been directed to mention the names of kits and companies, batch numbers and countries of origin in the diagnostic reports.
As per the direction to all such centres permitted by the the PHC for testing and collecting samples to detect Covid-19, the costs of PCR tests have been linked to the prices of kits being used. By virtue of this, the maximum price of such a test has been fixed at Rs 4, 500 provided the price of the kit being used is more than Rs 1, 500. In case, the kit costs less than Rs 1, 500, the price of the test will be Rs 3, 000. All the centres have also been directed not to charge more than the fixed rates. Moreover, these entities have been asked to implement the directions immediately, and violations in this regard to enforce penal consequences as per law, which includes fines, suspension of services, deregistration from the PHC, and sealing of the facility. To ensure implementation of the directions, the PHC officials will inspect and visit all the centres.
Chief Executive Officer PHC Dr Muhammad Saqib Aziz has said, in his statement, that due to the reduced prices of the testing kits, availability of the latest equipment and technical staff and in the public interest, the cost of the PCR test was reduced from Rs 6, 500 to Rs 4, 800 in the last January.
“We will take into consideration all the elements, and consult the stakeholders to further decrease the prices of tests in the future too, ” he added.