Punch
The Lagos State Government has announced a reduction in the cost of the COVID-19 PCR test at its accredited private laboratories from N50,400 to N45,250 commencing on January 28, 2022.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who announced the reduction on Wednesday at his office in Alausa, Ikeja noted that the COVID-19 PCR test cost was reviewed by Lagos State COVID-19 Incident Command Structure and approved by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Abayomi said the reduction in cost was to cut the expenses to be incurred by citizens who need the PCR tests for travel, work, or other purposes other than COVID symptoms or contact tracing.
A statement quoted the commissioner as saying, “In line with the directive of Mr. Governor, the Lagos State Biobank has reviewed the processes involved in conducting a COVID-19 PCR test at the accredited private laboratories consortium and based on this, made a recommendation to the Governor for a reduction.
“For those that need to travel and require a private PCR test, the Lagos State Government has recommended a reduction in the cost of COVID-19 PCR test at the accredited private laboratories consortium from N50,400 to N45,250 per PCR test commencing on the 28th of January 2022.
“You will recall that N50,400 initial PCR test fee charged at the private laboratories was a fixed amount approved by the Governor during the expansion of our testing to include the private laboratories consortium in the first wave. This strategy was to expand testing outlets available to the public but more importantly to ensure price control standardization and avoid exploitation of the public, as there were huge cost variations in PCR testing in the private sector ranging from N70,000 to as high as N300,000 per PCR test.
“Mr. Governor has approved the reduction in cost of the PCR test, bringing us to the new cost of N45,250 per PCR test. What this implies is that the Lagos State Government will enforce the new cost of PCR tests…
