THE Health Ministry must state clearly if the ceiling prices for Covid-19 tests are just the cost of laboratory testing or if they include the whole test procedure, which involves other costs, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said.

Its president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said the government’s announcement on the price ceiling had caused confusion and can mislead the public into thinking that the rates are the maximum price they will pay for the whole test procedure at private healthcare facilities.

It is unclear if the price ceiling is to cover other costs associated with sample collection, which includes the price of the test kit, operational overheads and protective gear.

In cases where a person with symptoms sees a doctor and asks for a test, the cost of consultation must also be factored in.

Laboratories too, incur costs to process the specimens.

“Stringent standard operating procedure (must be followed) to yield high quality results.

“Any attempt to set a lower ceiling price just to make it affordable to the public would have disastrous consequences. The last thing we need is for any party to be forced to compromise on safety or quality just to rationalise the cost of the procedure to be within a pre-determined cap,” Subramaniam said.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba announced on June 15 the ceiling prices for Covid-19 tests. The prices were gazetted through An Emergency Ordinance 2021 last month.

It sets the ceiling price for an RT-PCR test at RM150, an RTK-Antigen test at RM60 and an RTK-Antibody test at RM50 in Peninsular Malaysia.

In Sabah and Sarawak, the same tests are capped at RM200, RM80 and RM70 respectively.

Subramaniam said these rates are “too low to represent a fair value that compensates the total cost and effort involved during both components of this procedure”.

“It needs to be stressed that there are many factors that contribute to the overall cost of the procedure.

“Therefore, MMA hopes that the Health Ministry will be able to make it clear once and for all that the price ceiling that has been set for the Covid-19 screening procedure only applies to the cost of the laboratory testing component of that procedure,” he said. – June 20, 2021.