The Competition Commission said an agreement with three major private labs to reduce the cost of COVID-19 PCR tests is a major victory for South Africans, particularly the most vulnerable groups.
Pathcare has also agreed to an immediate price reduction of COVID-19 PCR tests.
The settlement agreement comes after an announcement at the weekend that Ampath and Lancet laboratories had agreed to substantially reduce the price of these tests with immediate effect.
The Competition Commission’s spokesperson Siya Makunga said: “The three laboratories also undertook to submit to the commission a compliance report that will include financial statements every three months so as to monitor prices charged to the public for PCR tests and other changes in cost.”
The labs agreed to cut the price of these tests to R500 each from R850.
“The price reduction shall remain in effect for a period of two years from the date of agreement.”
The settlement agreements came while the commission’s investigation into excessive pricing of these tests was already underway.
In October, the commission received a complaint from the Council of Medical Schemes against private pathology labs alleging that the price for supplying PCR tests for COVID-19 was unfairly inflated, exorbitant, and unjustifiable.
-EWN
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