Jokowi Asks For Lower PCR Prices, Members Of Commission IX: Urge Permenkes To Be Issued Immediately

Illustration (Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to lower the price of the PCR test to a minimum of Rp.450 and a maximum of Rp. 550 thousand and the results can be known faster. The order was positively welcomed by a member of Commission IX, Intan Fauzi. He urged that the regulation of the minister of health (permenkes) related to the price of PCR be issued immediately. Intan emphasized that Jokowi's statement must be actualized in the form of clear derivative rules, namely in the form of the Minister of Health and not just a circular like the previous Antigen. Because affordable PCR prices are an urgent need in the community. "The president's directive that there is a highest price for PCR and antigens must be accelerated by stipulating in regulations, so that they are binding. Usually there are obstacles to implementation in the field, prices are still varied and high because there are no clear rules I ask the Government to immediately follow up and enforce regulations regarding the Highest Rate Limit for PCR Swab Examination. Otherwise, this is only a statement," he said, in Jakarta, closed on Monday, August 16. The Director General of Health Services (Yankes) of the Ministry of Health Number HK.02.02/1/4611/2020, in the SE the highest price limit is set on the island of Java at IDR 250,000 and outside Java IDR 270,000. However, continued Intan, in its implementation in the field, at first this rule was not fully implemented. Even though in the process it has involved a BPKP study and is applied as a travel rule. "The antigen threshold price is stated in the SE Director General of Health and Health, so supervision is weak," he said. According to Intan, the price of PCR tests should have been lowered, considering the importance of testing and tracing is very important for suppressing the transmission of COVID-19 in the community. "In my opinion, inspection fees should be cheap, because this pandemic one of the keys is testing and tracing," he said. Moreover, said Intan, the government allocated a very large budget of Rp. 9.9 trillion for testing and tracing. . With this budget, according to him, testing and tracing of positive patient circles should be free. As for the details of the 2021 diagnostic budget, namely for testing of Rp. 9.3 trillion and tracing of Rp. 0.6 trillion. "Especially for people who want to do a PCR test. independent, low tariffs must be applied," he said. Intan revealed, Commission IX of the House of Representatives had often reminded the Ministry of Health about the low absorption of diagnostic budgets (inspection and tracking), which should have been carried out maximally. However, with a budget of Rp. 9.9 trillion, it turns out that breakfast is still low. Data as of May 29, 2021 alone, said Intan, the realization of the budget for testing and tracing is only Rp. 152.11 billion, or only about 2.50 percent. "Big budget, but realization or budget absorption is always low. Tracing is also not optimal because WHO requires that if one person is positive, at least 30 people who are in close contact must be traced," he said. The problem is that real time PCR machines, reagent-kits and PCR test kits still depend on imports. This is one of the factors that has made the price of PCR soar. Even if there are test kits produced in the country, said Intan, they have not been able to meet the mass demand. Likewise, importers where business actors are still limited, resulting in high costs and burdened society. "We hope that domestic Medical Device manufacturers must be more productive so that in the field of health and handling the pandemic, Indonesia does not depend on foreign products which end up having high costs so that burden the people," he said. "I'm sure that both state-owned and private companies engaged in medical equipment can catch up," he continued.

Jokowi asks PCR prices to go down and results faster

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to lower the PCR test price to a minimum of Rp450 and a maximum of Rp550 thousand. This request was made by Jokowi in response to the price of PCR tests which are still relatively expensive in the country. Furthermore, according to Jokowi, one way to increase testing for COVID-19 is to reduce the price of PCR tests. "I have spoken to the Minister of Health about this. so that the price of the PCR test is Rp450-550," he said in a video uploaded by the Cabinet Secretariat, Sunday, August 15. Not only asking to lower the price of the PCR test, Jokowi also asked that the results of the PCR test could be published within 1x24 hours. Because, so far there have been PCR test results that have only been published for a few days. "In addition, I ask that the results of the PCR test can be known in a maximum of 1x24. We need speed," he said. COVID-19 compared to a number of countries in the world. In some countries, even the COVID-19 test is given free of charge or free. In Indonesia, the price of PCR is priced at IDR 800,000 to millions of rupiah, depending on the speed at which the data is published. The results of the PCR test also vary, some are 24 hours, but some have to wait a few days. The government through the Ministry of Health has set the highest limit rate for independent PCR swabs of IDR 900,000. The decision was taken after many parties suggested that the government set a standard tariff because the current price was too expensive.