The Domestic Trade Ministry has indicated that the price of the Covid-19 self-test kit will be reduced by the end of this month to make it more affordable for parents to carry out screening test before their children start school session.
With school confirmed to reopen in October, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Rosol Wahid highlighted the need to bring price lower so that parents could afford to use them sparingly. This comes as parents were reluctant to send their children back to schools as they still felt its unsafe with those below 18 have yet to be vaccinated.
However, certain parents were more than willing to have their children resume face to face learning as they fear of losing our academically. But contended that self-test kit should be more affordable so that they can conduct regular testing.
In order to make the kits more accessible, the Ministry has also made it clear that sales will not be limited to pharmacies and clinics and will be expanded to other business premises such as hypermarkets and mini markets.
After much debate, the price was fixed at RM19.90 while the wholesale price was set at RM16 but this is set to come down further very soon.
Accordingly the Ministry had meetings with representatives of several pharmaceutical operators’ associations and had stated that all have agreed to reduce the price of the self-test kit as recommended by the government.
Giving an example, the Deputy minister said “A family of five children would need RM100 to buy the self-test kits and the new price will not be burdening and the important thing is to carry out the test to ensure their children are healthy before returning to school,”.
This is a good move by the government, reducing the price will make the product more accessible to all including small offices, micro business and retailers who can comfortably introduce test on their workers regularly without hesitant.
