KAMPALA- The Ministry of Health has introduced a UGX240,500 fee for coronavirus testing services.
According to a statement signed by Geoffrey Sseremba on behalf of the permanent secretary, the development comes due to the requests from organisations to have their staff tested which it finds difficult to sustain because of lack of resources.
“In view of the above fact, therefore, the government would like to introduce a testing fee of US$65 or UGX 240,500 per test for certain categories of individuals and organisations,” reads a statement dated August 27.
Sseremba says this is a cost recovery mechanism that will enable MOH to acquire more test kits for continued access to testing services in the country.
The categories of people who will be paying for their testing services include truck drivers, individuals seeking to know their status, organisations, Ugandans from abroad and visitors arriving into the country from other countries.
“A COVID-19 testing fee collection account has accordingly been opened in Stanbic Bank where payments will be made for the mentioned categories,” said Sseremba.
He further revealed that government will continue free coronavirus testing services to patients who present to health facilities with COVID-19 symptoms, contacts of people who tested positive for COVID-19, community surveys to establish the extent of the spread, surveillance samples and Frontline health workers.
According to the ministry of health, 2500 cases of COVID-19 infections have been recorded out of more than 350,000 samples tested giving an infection rate of less than 1%.
“It has observed that the infection rate has sharply increased in recent times due to the community spread of the virus,” reads the statement in part.
