Consumer protection to monitor PCR test prices

The consumer protection authority is monitoring providers of PCR tests nationwide to ensure that tests are not conducted above the official price which the government has capped at 19,500 forints (EUR 54), the innovation and technology ministry said on Tuesday.

State hospitals and clinics provide coronavirus tests free of charge for those entitled under the relevant epidemiological regulations, Tamas Schanda, a state secretary of the ministry, said.

Providers that overprice the tests risk having to pay fines in the millions of forints, Schanda said. “The spread of coronavirus can be curbed only if we stand together. Profiteering on the tests is unacceptable,” he said.

The price of the PCR tests, the best known method to identify Covid-19 infections, was capped on September 21, the ministry noted.

The government set the combined price for taking the sample and carry out the test in the lab at 19,500 forints, the statement said.

Since then, laboratories offering PCR tests have changed their practices in multiple ways. The ministry has instructed the consumer protection authority to ensure that prices are kept within the official boundaries and that consumers are duly informed, the statement said.

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Source: MTI