MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Sunday (November 29) said it is lowering its fees for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) swab testing effective Tuesday (December 1).
From the current P4,000 per test, the PRC lowered the cost to P3,800 for private clients, walk-in clients and inbound passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The said lowering of fees is in line with the agency’s effort to help more Filipinos get tested for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the PRC said P4,800 will be charged for expedited test with a turnaround time of 12-24 hours, while paying local government units (LGU) will be charged P3,300 per test.
Institutions that charge their tests to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will have to pay P3,409 per test.
“Natawaran natin ang China na makuha natin nang mas mura ang test kits (We were able to bargain with China to give us a more affordable price for the test kits),” said PRC Chairman Senator Richard Gordon.
“Kung mapapababa pa natin ang bayad sa test kits, ibababa pa natin iyan para mas marami ang ma-test (If we can purchase the test kits at a cheaper price, we will lower the fees even more so many can get tested),” he added.
As of November 29, the PRC has tested over one million people in its molecular laboratories all over the country that could test 44,000 tests a day in total.
“The lowering of prices would give way to more Filipinos to afford Covid-19 testing and would help stop the spread of the virus,” said Gordon.
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