THE announcement on the ceiling price for the RTK Antigen COVID-19 self-test kit is a recommendable step taken by the Government to encourage people to test themselves at the price of RM19.90 for retail and RM16 for wholesale.
However, the prices are still quite expensive especially for those who need to do the test regularly, said Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng.
“The announcement on the ceiling price was also made unilaterally by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) without prior consultation with the relevant stakeholders. This surely will bring a detrimental impact to the providing parties,” he said in a press statement on Friday (Sept 3).
“I believe that the Government has the full capacity and capability to subsidise these test kits. If the Government can buy vaccines for everyone in Malaysia, the same thing can be done for test kits as well,” Lim remarked.
Using the situation in the United Kingdom (UK) to illustrate his point, Lim said that the UK government has provided twice weekly free test kits for residents.
The initiative, he added, was seen as a proactive measure as the UK government ease up on lockdown measures.
“With a lot of sectors opening up slowly in Malaysia, the Government should definitely emulate a similar initiative to ensure that our citizens can do regular COVID-19 testings.”
Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran has similarly called for a better method to make test kits accessible to the masses.
“The Government should bulk-buy millions of test kits for the public at large. With each order in the millions, we can definitely get the best price possible from the manufacturers, even possibly below RM10 per test kit,” he said in a statement.
According to Rajiv, he was already doing what he could for the residents in his constituency by subsidising the self-test kits at RM10 for the B40 segment.
“However, my purchasing power is lower and I have to pay a higher subsidy sum to make this happen. With the ability of the Government to purchase [the kits by the millions], the subsidy will be much smaller to achieve the goal of RM10 test kits.”
The test kits could then be distributed for free, as the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has done, or sold to the public for RM10 or lesser to encourage the public to conduct regular testings to help identify and isolate positive cases as soon as possible.
Added Rajiv, the pharmacies also don’t have to lose out in terms of profit because the Government can choose to distribute/sell this test kits via pharmacies instead of creating a separate machinery.
“I strongly encourage the government to be aware of its purchasing power and use it to the advantage of the people.
“When testing is the only way forward, it is important to make it accessible to all segments of the population. Moving forward, let us make testing regularly a norm.” – Sept 3, 2021
