FAS WILL CHECK PRICES FOR PCR AND ANTIBODY TESTS

Due to numerous complaints from citizens about the rise in prices for PCR tests and antibody tests, the Federal Antimonopoly Service launched an audit. The department will begin to study the economic feasibility of the cost of services.

According to Interfax, FAS sent requests to various medical organizations to provide documents on pricing. The agency will check them and make inputs on how reasonable the prices for PCR tests and tests for antibodies against Covid-19 are.

Earlier, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin instructed the FAS to check the cost and execution time of tests for coronavirus.

Russians began to often complain about the too long period of performing the tests. In addition, prices for PCR and antibodies began to rise markedly. Mishustin noted that citizens were seriously concerned about this and asked the Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights to intervene in the situation.

Now the department must strengthen the control over the implementation of test. It is also possible to switch to a mandatory 24-hour period for providing test results. The head of the Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights herself, Anna Popova, emphasized that commercial laboratories raise fees for tests, but at the same time they cannot cope with the flow of applicants, dragging out the results of test.

Since last week, the demand for antibody tests and PCR has increased significantly in medical centers - this is due to the introduction of new restrictions against the backdrop of the outbreak of Covid-19. At the same time, people began to check for the presence of Covid-19 in the body 25-40% more often, and the service for antibodies tests became 2 or more times more popular. Due to this, problems arose with the timely provision of the results and experts recorded an increase in prices.