TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Health Ministry is reviewing the possibility to cap the maximum price of PCR tests. The study came following President Joko Widodo's instructions to lower the price to Rp300,000.

"We are reviewing it together with the Task Force, BNPB, the Health Ministry, the Transportation Ministry, as well as consulting numerous parties including professional organizations, lab parties, distributors, and also government auditors," the Health Ministry's spokesperson for Covid-19 Vaccination, Siti Nadia Tarmizi , told Tempo on Tuesday, October 26.

Jokowi's request for a lower PCR test price was delivered by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan at a press conference yesterday.

Right now, the Health Ministry caps the maximum tariff for PCR testing at Rp495,000 in Java and Bali, and Rp525,000 outside Java and Bali.

The ministry' Director General of Health Services, Abdul Kadir, said that there is still a possibility for the ceiling price to be lowered further.

"We are still at this price range because many of the materials we use are still imported. One way to lower the price is by proposing to the Ministry of Finance to eliminate the import fee for PCR reagents," Kadir had told Tempo on August 20.

Read: President Jokowi Orders Cost Reduction for Air Travel PCR Testing

DEWI NURITA