The prices set by the government for Covid-19 diagnostic tests have led to an increase in public spending, estimated at 153.4 million euros between 2020 and 2021, the Court of Auditors (TdC) reported this Thursday.
In a report published on its website, TdC concludes that the prices set by the Department of Health for diagnostic tests for the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, reimbursed by the National Health Service (SNS), “are not always on a technical basis, presented by the National Institute of Health Dutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA, IP).”
This “has undermined the transparency of relevant pricing processes and led to increased government costs,” the report concludes.
From 1 March 2020 to 30 April 2022, 37.9 million diagnostic tests for Covid-19 were carried out on the Portuguese mainland, of which 19.4 million were nucleic acid amplification tests (TAAN) (51.2%) and 18.5 million rapid antigen tests (TRAg). (48.8%).
The vast majority of tests (28.1 million; 74.1%) were carried out by private sector providers.
TdC believes that the delay “in updating test prices and the failure to accept the technical prices proposed” to the Ministry of Health led to an increase in social media costs “by €97 million in the case of TAAN and by €56.4 million.” , as for TRag.”
The price of TAAN tests paid for by SNS was updated and “five different prices were set between March 2020 and March 2022”, the first of which was €87.95 and the last €30.
A comparison with Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France and Greece shows that the price initially set in Portugal “was the highest in the sample”, which ranged from a maximum price in Portugal of €87.95 to a minimum price in Belgium at 46.81 euros. , “using June 2020 as a basis.”
“Despite differences in per capita wealth compared to countries represented in the EU (European Union), the price adopted in Portugal was, for example, 49.1% higher than that charged in Germany. and 62.9% higher than that practiced in France. “which is on average 36.1% higher than accepted” in the seven countries mentioned.
The Department of Health’s “audit of testing and contact tracing as part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic” aimed to “assess its effectiveness, efficiency and cost-effectiveness, taking into account the objectives set, resources used and results achieved.” The period under review covers five waves of the disease recorded in Portugal.
According to the agency, “levels of testing of the population and notification of positive tests to health authorities and users have not always proven to be timely, adequate, and proportionate to the identified risk.”
And despite its intensification throughout the pandemic, “they were not effective enough to provide adequate control, particularly in the last quarter of 2020 and the first months of 2021.”
The report also concluded that “the strategy for testing and contact tracing in Portugal has generally been clear”, adding that in relation to diagnosing the disease, “it is private sector laboratories that have made the greatest contribution to the expansion of installed capacity.”
Regarding epidemiological surveillance, it was “hampered by the limitations of the information systems used, which forced the creation of numerous and separate “ad hoc” solutions at the regional and/or local level, which diverted public health resources, caused inefficiencies and affected the quality of data on the activities carried out”, restrictions that have “impaired the assessment of the operational effectiveness of testing and contact tracing processes.”
Taking into account the findings, the report recommends that the Secretary of Health ensure the “resilience of the health system by developing its readiness and capacity to respond to future public health emergencies” and ensure that “administrative and non-competitive basis has an adequate basis for its cost , meeting the criteria of economic efficiency.”
To the Director-General of Health, TdC recommends promoting analysis of testing and contact tracing processes to assess “their suitability, effectiveness and efficiency in response to Covid-19”, as well as “scientific research into the effective impact of testing and contact tracing activities (…) on the gap chains of transmission and control of the spread of the disease.”
Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a type of virus discovered in late 2019 in China that has spread rapidly around the world, taking on multiple variants and subvariants, some more contagious than others.
The disease was classified as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, and ceased to be an international public health emergency in May 2023.
Portugal recorded its first case and first death linked to the coronavirus in March 2020, and until Thursday, another 28,000 people had died from Covid-19, according to the General Directorate of Health.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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