College of Medical Laboratory Science head gives the lie to Health Minister’s claim

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Given that fewer than 3,000 PCR tests were conducted daily in government laboratories now, less than Rs. 10 million were spent on them daily, President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science, Ravi  Kumudesh told The Island yesterday.

Kumudesh said that Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi had claimed the government spent Rs.80 million a day on PCR tests.

“This is a false statement. The government labs do very little PCR testing now. The government only spends around Rs. 10 million on PCR testing at present. If the government allows the lab established at the BIA to conduct PCR tests on foreigners that come here, we can easily recover any costs incurred on free PCR testing.”

Kumudesh added that although President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been informed that none of the samples taken from tourists were sent to the PCR laboratory at the BIA, no remedial action had been taken.

Kumudesh said that PCR tests on tourists were conducted at a private hospital and that establishment profited greatly.

“Now, we don’t get samples at the airport. The Health Ministry has allowed businessmen to take this over. It has become a money-making scheme for certain private sector institutions. If we are allowed to do this and charge for the service, the government would be making enough money to cover the subsidies.”

Kumudesh said that by misleading the people that the government spent exorbitant amounts on PCR testing, the government was trying to justify the reduction in PCR testing.