CAPE TOWN - The agreement by two pathology laboratories in the country to reduce their prices for Covid-19 PCR tests for the next two years to R500 including VAT, has been welcomed by industry partners.
It forms part of the terms of two separate consent agreements which the Competition Commission yesterday announced it had concluded with Ampath and Lancet Laboratories.
Both laboratories will also be required to submit compliance reports setting out the prices charged for PCR tests and any material changes in costs to the Commission every three months.
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) in October lodged a complaint with the Commission saying that private laboratories were charging between R850-R900 for a Covid-19-test.
The investigation focused on Ampath, Lancet and PathCare and revealed that while prices decreased across pathology suppliers, pathology groups had been earning significant profits since March 2020.
Following preliminary discussions with Ampath, they voluntarily reduced their PCR test price to R710 on November 29 while Lancet reduced its price to R725 from December 2.
However, an assessment by the Commission concluded that Ampath and Lancet were capable of profitably selling tests at R500.
On December 8, the Commission sent letters of demand to the two companies to immediately reduce the cost and they agreed.
Neither Ampath nor Lancet however admit that they charged excessive or exorbitant prices in contravention of section 8(1)(a) of the Competition Act, read together with Regulation 4 of the Consumer Protection Regulations.
Competition Commissioner, Tembinkosi Bonakele said the case against Patchare continued, including a possible interim application for an urgent relief at the Tribunal.
“We also call upon all labs conducting PCR tests to be sensitive to the plight of the public in this time, and use the settlement as a guidance,” he said.
CMS Chief Executive and Registrar, Dr Sipho Kabane said the CMS’ Industry Report revealed that specialist services linked to the pathology discipline experienced an increase which amounted to R11.6 billion in 2020, representing a gain of 10.88% from R10.5 billion in 2019, despite a 3.81% overall decrease in the industry.
“We are delighted with this outcome, as it opens up citizens to more affordable testing, and we hope that this cost saving will enable medical schemes to enhance other areas of their basket of care, for the benefit of their members,” Kabane said.
SA Medical Association (Sama) chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee said Sama welcomed the decision.
“We still think the price can come down even more with PCR testing if we look at other countries, and also with home testing, one of these days, available. This is a step in the right direction and long overdue.”
Cape Times