The name of PCR diagnostic test it has multiplied these days, either because there are more and more countries that demand them from travelers arriving in their territory, or because people prefer to submit to one before visiting their loved ones.
In parallel with this increase in evidence, experts consulted by AFP lament the price war, which penalizes the poorest and also the fight against the pandemic.
When Fithrah Auliya Ansar, who had traveled with her daughter and husband to a wedding on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, wanted to return home to Sumatra, the rules had changed and a PCR test was needed to return. The family had to pay $ 170 and the woman decided to delay her return until “the government changes the rules,” she told AFP.
The situation is repeated, regardless of the continents. In Rosebank, an affluent neighborhood on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, the PCR test, performed in the parking lot of a laboratory, costs 850 rand, or more than $ 50.
“Who can pay such a sum in this country?” Asks Canadian Lauren Gelfand, who has to take the test to return home to Nairobi.
But this is by no means the most expensive test in the world. According to a study by insurance company April, a PCR test can cost about 153 euros ($ 188) in the United States, 250 euros ($ 307) in the United Kingdom and up to 347 ($ 426) in Japan.
“The differences are due to the country’s medical circumstances. In some, going to a doctor means going to the private sector where care is extremely expensive,” says Isabelle Moins, general manager of insurance April International.
But nonetheless, tests are still virtually essential for travel. In November, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) counted 126 countries requiring PCR testing from international tourists.
In countries like France, for example, the test is free, regardless of the circumstances that motivate it. But elsewhere they only reimburse patients with symptoms or at best those who have had contact with a patient. This implies that many travelers have to pay for the test themselves.
This is the case in the UK, where PCR tests are free for people who have symptoms or live in areas where restrictions are higher. The rest should go to private labs. Boots, one of the leading drugstore chains, is offering a 120-pound ($ 160) test. At the private Harley Street Clinic in London, it costs more than double.
In South Korea, except in Seoul and its region, getting a symptom-free PCR test costs about $ 108.
In Spain, citizens do not have to pay anything for the test if prescribed by a doctor. Otherwise, they have to go to a private center and pay between 115 and 180 euros, according to data from the consumer organization OCU. An AFP journalist was even offered a test for 250 euros in Andalusia (south).
In other countries, such as Germany or Italy, prices can range from 59 to 190 euros, depending on where the test is performed.
How much does it really cost?
Understanding how to set the price of a PCR test is a real puzzle. With or without a prescription, in a private center or in a public place … It is difficult to clarify in this mess of rules and prices.
Laboratories and manufacturers are discreet about their rates and the actual cost of these tests.
According to a July 2020 study conducted by the organization Epicenter, which supports the epidemiological work of the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), “the cost of a PCR test is between 15 and 25 euros depending on the methods “, not counting the extraction material such as hyssop, the salaries of the staff performing them and the protective equipment they must use to practice the test or the cost of the place where these tests are performed.
French Social Security has stipulated that the state must pay laboratories 43.20 euros ($ 53) for each test.
“The price is set by the health services of each country,” says the French analysis group Eurofins, which performs about 2 million PCR tests a month.
In this context, some people may give up taking the test or even go to a black market where they supply a false negative result.
Many people prefer “not to undergo a test due to lack of financial means,” says Ayman Sabae, in charge of health issues at the NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. In this country, £ 2,000, about $ 127, is charged for a test, that is, the monthly salary of a local official.
Try fakes
In Mozambique, authorities in October detected a network of false negative tests in an area bordering South Africa. Most tests in Mozambique are performed in private clinics and cost the same as the minimum wage.
In Gabon, where a negative test is required to travel from one province to another by public transport, a young student from Libreville who has to take the bus to go to see her family says, without wanting to reveal the his identity, which he pays about $ 18 to get a fake certificate. “It’s fast, they scan the seal of a lab and give me a false result that really looks like a real document. The person reviewing the certificates has neither the time nor the material means to verify,” he explains.
For that, in many places, current contagion figures do not reflect reality at all.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that PCR testing requires considerable resources and infrastructure, conditions that do not occur in many parts of the world. The institution launched a mechanism called ACT-Accelerator to make 500 million tests available to developing countries in 2021.