Price For PCR Test Is IDR 275 Thousand, Pro-Democracy Protest: In India IDR 96 Thousand, So Traders Earn More Profit?

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Health has set the highest tariff for the Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) examination of IDR 275 thousand for Java-Bali, and IDR 300 thousand for outside Java-Bali.

Even though it has been reduced to IDR 275 thousand, the price of the PCR test is still controversial. The reason is, for the mandatory requirement to travel by air transportation mode, the price of the test should be minimized again.

Chairman of the Pro-Democracy Activist Network Council (ProDEM) Iwan Sumule assessed that the PCR test price of IDR 275 thousand was still relatively high. Moreover, former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti said the price of PCR in India was in the range of IDR 96 thousand.

He then mentioned the price of PCR tests at the beginning of the pandemic which was up to millions of rupiah. This means, he said, the advantages of the PCR test are many. Even after being lowered to IDR 275 thousand, it is still 3x more expensive.

"In India, it's only IDR 96 thousand? So the PCR test traders make a lot of profit?" Iwan told reporters, Thursday, October 28.

Iwan assessed that the high test rate was due to PCR traders taking part in regulating government policies. So, what they think about is only business in order to make a profit, not to save the people.

"In fact, overcoming COVID-19 and public safety is the responsibility of the state," said Iwan.

It is known that President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) instruction to reduce the price of the COVID-19 PCR swab test to IDR 300.000 has finally taken effect.

Director-General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Abdul Kadir said the evaluation carried out by RT PCR consisted of service components, consumable components, overhead, and other adjusted costs.

"We agreed to reduce the RT-PCR to IDR 275.000 for Java and Bali and IDR 300 thousand for outside Java and Bali," he said at the Latest Pricing Press Conference on RT-PCR Swab, Wednesday, October 27. Meanwhile, former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti, compared the price of PCR tests in India to be quite affordable at around IDR 96 thousand.