Government can reduce the cost of COVID-19 tests if it will help and encourage local manufacturers develop and produce their own kits.
Bayan Muna Chairman and senatorial aspirant Nery Colmenares said on Friday, Jan 14 that producing local kits is the best way of reducing the cost of testing for the dreaded disease.
The lack of access to free or low-priced COVID-19 is among the factors that has triggered the surge in infections among Filipinos, health experts say.
Colmenares stressed that since the cost has become “indeed prohibitive” many Filipinos are unable to get themselves tested.
“The average cost of an RT-PCR test in a government facility is P2,570, which is too steep for ordinary wage earners,” said Colmenares.
“The best way to reduce the cost of Covid-19 testing is to empower local manufacturers to develop and produce our own testing kits,” he said.
The former congressman noted that the University of the Philippines has already taken the initiative to produce local testing kits.
This should prod the Department of Health and Department of Trade and INdustry to “step up and help our local manufacturers produce millions of test kits needed under the prolonged pandemic.”
With UP already taking the initiative as early as March 2020, the DOH and DTI should step up and help our local manufacturers produce the millions of test kits needed under the prolonged pandemic”, according to Colmenares.
“By producing test kits locally, we can drop the cost of testing, regulate it better, and even produce kits for free distribution. The same can be said for personal protective equipment (PPE) and even vaccines,” he said.
.“As time is of the essence in a pandemic, we need to start now. It’s never too late. In doing so, we can also support the local economy by creating new jobs in the manufacturing industry,” Colmenares stressed.