JAKARTA - Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) directive to lower the highest price for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test to Rp. 300,000 was reasonable and could be implemented in the field.
According to him, President Jokowi's request has been adjusted to various considerations ranging from the price of PCR reagents and operational costs ranging from services to other cost components.
"It seems that the figure of Rp. 300,000 is a figure that may make sense and be implemented in real terms," Dante told reporters, Tuesday, October 26.
In an effort to carry out Jokowi's directives, the Ministry of Health has taken a number of steps. Including doing modeling to simplify the price of reagents that come in from outside.
Moreover, the reagent which is the largest component in the financing of the PCR test is important because it becomes a means of checking specimens.
"So reducing the price of the incoming reagents becomes a model that we will immediately follow up so that the price of the PCR test is below or to Rp. 300 thousand, which is now still Rp. 499 thousand," said Dante.
The Deputy Minister of Health hopes that the lower price of the PCR test can facilitate testing to prevent a wave of transmission in the community. Moreover, the cheaper it is, the more people can access it widely.
"This testing can be carried out by the public at large if the price is affordable and what the President has conveyed, we follow up technically," said Dante.
As previously reported, Jokowi ordered the price of the PCR test to be reduced to Rp. 300,000. The order came after the government was criticized for requiring the test for airplane passengers and the antigen swab was declared invalid.
For information, the highest tariff for PCR costs in Java-Bali is Rp. 495 thousand and Rp. 550 thousand outside Java-Bali. "The president's directive is that the PCR price can be lowered to Rp. 300,000 and is valid for 3 x 24 hours for plane trips," Luhut said in his statement, Monday, October 25.
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