COVID-19 test at reduced fees ‘in two days’: Health minister

Health minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday said that fees for coronavirus tests will be reduced soon to increase the number of tests, reports news agency UNB.

Tests at government hospitals cost Tk 200, which is being reduced by half. Fees for sample collection from home and test are being reduced to Tk 300 from Tk 500, said the minister.

“At the directive of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, we have re-fixed Tk 100 instead of Tk 200 and Tk 300 instead of Tk 500 for COVID-19 sample tests at government-run testing facilities,” he told a press briefing in the conference room of the ministry, an official release said, reports BSS.

“The new fee will come into effect in the next two days,” he said at a media briefing at the secretariat.

The health minister mentioned that the quality, availability and effectiveness of the vaccine is being analysed by keeping in constant touch with all countries.

He claimed that 70 per cent beds at COVID-19 dedicated hospitals are currently empty. As a result, a large number of physicians and nurses are passing idle time.

The government is working to convert some of these hospitals into non-COVID hospitals, he said adding that that would benefit non-COVID patients more.

Bangladesh’s official coronavirus tally stands at more than 282,000 cases and over 3,700 deaths.