Price Of Swab Test Cannot Be More Than Rp. 900 Thousand, Task Force: Must Be Obeyed

Illustrations (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 has asked hospitals and health facilities that conduct swab tests to follow a circular issued by the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) and be transparent in financing health services.

As for the circular in question, the maximum price for the swab test is Rp. 900 thousand in all hospitals and health facilities. Both private and government owned.

"We request that health facilities serving independent swab tests comply with the Ministry of Health circular letter and be transparent with health care financing in order to minimize fraud," said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force in an online press conference broadcast on YouTube to the Presidential Secretariat, Thursday. , 8 October.

He also reminded that the application of the highest price for testing can only be applied to people who carry out the COVID-19 swab independently.

Meanwhile, for people who take the test after being declared in close contact with a COVID-19 patient, no fees are allowed.

"It should be emphasized that the tariff limit only applies to people who carry out RT PCR examinations independently and does not apply to contact tracing activities or referral of COVID-19 cases to hospitals," he said.

"So according to the SE Ministry of Health, the maximum cost of an independent swab test is Rp. 900 thousand," he added.

Previously, Acting Director General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health, Abdul Kadir, announced that the cost for one swab test was set at Rp. 900 thousand.

Responding to this determination, the General Chairman of the Indonesian Private Hospital Association (ARSSI), Susi Setiawaty, said that his party would comply with the new tariff for independent swab tests. However, he asked for a subsidy for the cost of purchasing test kit reagents as the basic material for the examination.

"We hope that there will be a stipulation regarding reagent prices. This is because we spend on investment in tools, human resources and swab kits at our own expense, not grants or assistance," said Susi when contacted by VOI, Tuesday, October 6.

In addition, Susi also asked the government to provide subsidies or a maximum rate for the price of personal protective equipment (PPE) sold by producers. This is intended so that the hospital does not suffer losses when following the rules for the swab test tariff of Rp. 900 thousand.

Likewise, the Chairperson of the COVID-19 PB Task Force of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Zubairi Djoerban also views that the cost of an independent swab test at a price of Rp900 thousand is difficult for hospitals to apply without getting subsidies from the government.

"The price of Rp900 thousand for the PCR swab test may be sufficient if the government is assisted in reagents, namely for reagents for extraction and PCR reagents," Zubairi said in his statement.

In Zubairi's calculations, Rp900 thousand is only enough for the cost of facilities, equipment costs, consumables, costs for personal protective equipment, cartridges (specifically for TCM), and health care.

"If there is no subsidy from the government, the PCR test swab price should be Rp1.2 million," said Zubairi.