The Dominican Government is preparing the protocol so that the COVID-19 antigen tests reach the population through pharmacies, which seeks to reduce bureaucratic processes for the permitting of tests and sale in pharmacies.
As reported to this medium by the executive director of the Union of Pharmacies, Scarlet Sánchez, the possibility is also aired that the same tests acquired by the government can be applied in pharmacies, an action that the establishment would carry out as a social work.
In this regard, Sánchez said that around 1,200 pharmacies are available to the government to serve as a link and guarantee that citizens have access to the COVID test in a timely manner and at a price that does not represent a significant increase in their out-of-pocket costs.
There are still not many details about what the process or the protocol that the Ministry of Health will establish, but Sánchez affirmed that the Union of Pharmacies supports this measure that would reinforce the detection capacity to diagnose the disease in time and that the agent can access treatment that avoids complications that are preventable with timely care.
The union that brings together local pharmacies received this week the request from the Ministry of Public Health to acquire the COVID-19 test in its establishments.
Meanwhile, in a press release, the president of the entity, Raúl Hernández Castaños, affirmed that this is a correct measure that facilitates access to thousands of patients to the COVID-19 test, while decongesting the application centers of the same.
Hernández Castaños confirmed that the issue of guaranteeing access to COVID-19 tests at a better price was discussed with the Government, but they are still in collaboration to establish the most feasible mechanism.
drug producers
The Association of Pharmaceutical Representatives, Agents and Producers (ARAPF) supported the initiative of the health authorities to authorize the regulated sale of COVID-19 diagnostic tests in duly registered and regulated pharmaceutical establishments.
According to the association, this format has been successfully implemented in other countries, so it would facilitate access to diagnosis, allowing processes to flow efficiently and helping to decongest the health system.
Laboratory tests
This Friday, Listín Diario toured some laboratories in the Dominican capital where it was confirmed that, compared to the beginning of the pandemic, coronavirus tests have shown slight decreases. From March 2020 to the present, PCR has dropped from RD$4,300 to RD$4,100 and antigen from RD$2,000 to RD$1,750.
However, other tests such as antibody tests, which began to be carried out after the advance of the pandemic, remain at the same price. The one for antibodies is currently worth RD$2,300, while others cost around RD$1,300.
One of the employees of a laboratory confirmed that while she has been working there, the prices of the tests have not dropped, so when asked how long she has been in that position, she replied “eight months.”
Meanwhile, a collaborator from another of the laboratories visited said that PCR tests have not gone down in price for a long time because the Government established it that way and it is the one that sets the price of these samples.
She added that in many countries rapid tests are already sold in pharmacies, but in the Dominican Republic it has not yet been established whether these antigen samples will be with swabs or saliva.
In one of the lines of the laboratories there was a man who told another person that “the Government has to pay for all this because all the governments in the world have been paying for the tests of their citizens.”
The woman, who identified herself as Ana Reynoso, replied that he should go to the National Laboratory and they will do it for free, although she knows that it will take longer in the process.
Reynoso, who was going to be tested when just six days ago one had been done and it was negative, because her son arrives today from abroad with her grandchildren and she wants to take care of them.
She believes that the tests are expensive if people do not go to a public place, “because if they go to private ones, it is because they can.”
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