Kon explains why the price of PCR tests went up: "It's an economic thing, but has another function"

Photo: Tanjug/Serbian Government/Slobodan Miljevic

If you want to do a PCR test for coronavirus on your personal request, you can do it in almost every healthcare center and institute of public health in Serbia. This test on a personal request will cost 6,000 dinars until the end of the year, and from January 1, 2021, the price will go up by 3,000 dinars.

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Predrag Kon explained why testing will become more expensive starting in January, as he appeared on TV Prva's morning program.

"The price of PCR tests has been discussed for several months. At the Crisis HQ itself, there has been no talk about the price at all, that is something that has now merged with this situation. It's important to know that PCR testing must be done. Since we have been doing PCR testing, it has been the cheapest in the region."

Asked whether the new price would lead to fewer people being tested, Kon said:

"To tell you the truth, I didn't think about that. What's certain is that it's an economic thing, but it also has the function of dissuasion. Someone who is having that test done exclusively because of travel, may give up on traveling because of the price, which is a good thing at the moment."

He stressed that the price of PCR testing is not the focus of an epidemiologist, as well as that this was not a topic at the meetings of the Crisis HQ.

The Government of Serbia decided that starting on January 1, 2021, the price of testing on a personal request will be 9,000 dinars, instead of 6,000.

"The price of testing on a personal request for foreign citizens will be 18,000 dinars, while for the citizens of Serbia the price is unchanged until the end of the year and amounts to 6,000 dinars. From January 1, 2021, the price of testing on a personal request for domestic citizens will amount to 9,000 dinars," said a statement issued by the government.

(Telegraf.rs)