Filtered By: Topstories
News

Pangilinan suspects something fishy amid sudden drop in prices of imported COVID-19 kits


Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan's suspicion that someone is profiteering from the purchase of imported COVID-19 test kits grew stronger as he bared on Wednesday that the approval of locally developed kits "immediately" tipped the scales on pricing.

"Long-time DOH (Department of Health) insiders have told us that some distributors of imported COVID-19 test kits have lowered their prices by 26% after the announced commercial release of the much cheaper test kits developed by the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health," Pangilinan said in a statement.

"Ang laki ng ibinaba at napakalaki ng tubo sa presyo dati. Sino ang kumikita at nananamantala sa panahon ng pandemya?" he asked.

The senator did not mention specific prices but the Department of Science and Technology previously said COVID-19 tests using the locally-developed kit would only cost P1,320.

Pangilinan also said he received information that the recall of  UP-developed test kits in May was connected to a contamination incident brought about by imported raw materials.

"We were told all stock was immediately pulled out and destroyed when the contamination was detected," he said.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire previously said the recall of locally developed test kits was made due to a "problem" that was discovered when the testing kits went under validation of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

"I cannot really disclose what the issue is based on the UP testing kits’ proficiency test," she said.

After a defect has been addressed, the DOH announced on Sunday that the COVID-19 test kits developed by the University of the Philippines have already been approved for commercial use.

Pangilinan lamented that if the roll out had been faster, more Filipinos could have been covered by COVID-19 testing by now.

"If the UP-NIH test kits had been approved earlier, then mass testing could have been achieved earlier at lower cost to the government and the public," he said.

Data from DOH showed that as of July 20, over 1.1 million individuals have undergone COVID-19 tests in the country.

The total confirmed cases in the Philippines reached over 72,000 on July 22, of which more than 23,000 recovered and over 1,800 died. —LDF, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT