BY BETHEENA UNITE
The Department of Health (DoH) said Monday it submitted a recommendation to the President to provide a “price ceiling” for coronavirus disease swab test to reconcile varying prices of the test in the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have noticed varying price of swab test for the dreaded disease across different laboratories in the country.
This prompted the department to recommend to the President to come up with an executive order for price ceiling in order to regulate the prices.
“Nakapag-submit na kami sa Office of the President ng recommendation for an executive order issuance dahil napansin natin ‘yung differential pricing across the different labs in the country,” Vergeire said during a virtual press briefing.
“Nakikita natin ‘yung malaking difference between labs as to how much swab testing cost. Hinihintay natin na bigyan tayo ng tugon kung saka-sakaling ma-approve,” the Health official added.
According to Vergeire, they are pushing for an executive order because “under a law specifying the prices of medicines, diagnostic and professional fees are not included.”
“That is what we have tried to study, at ito ang ating hinihiling na baka for this pandemic situation, we can be able to have this executive order so that we can somehow regulate the prices of swabs, or prices of testing for COVID-19,” Vergeire stressed. (Betheena Unite)
