By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Feb 25: Following the approval of eight factories to manufacture Covid-19 self-test kits and more than 8,084 premises to sell them, there is no shortage of RTK (antigen rapid test kit) throughout the country.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) Minister Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the availability of self-test kits was guaranteed with the cooperation of the Health Ministry and other medical device-related agencies.
“We had approved more than 8,084 premises throughout the nation for the sale of RTK. If we only allow pharmacies to sell it, the supply will be too few. That is why KPDNHEP opened up the opportunity for supermarkets and other retail outlets to sell it so that anyone, as long as they have access to business premises approved by us to sell it, will be able to purchase them. This is the way we ensure its availability,” said Nanta.
He said these eight factories produced a total of 4.306 million units of self-test kits while the country has imported a total of 2.34 million units from 7 countries. The total number of additional RTKs currently on the market is 6.647 million units.
Anticipating that the Omicron variant would cause Covid-19 cases to increase, he said there was a necessity for self-test kits to be available to all.
He acknowledged that there was a shortage before, but following the opening up of more premises selling the products and the approval of factories to produce it, the situation had been rectified.
On the issue brought up by some to lower the ceiling price of RM19.90 set by KPDNHEP for a self-test kit, the Kapit MP said the ministry did not want to set a ceiling price so that consumers may enjoy more options.
He explained that if the ceiling price is too low, it would not be profitable to import from other countries such as Korea.
“That is why we don’t want to set a ceiling price which is too low for those who can afford, who may, to their satisfaction, buy the imported ones which are more expensive.
“Those who prefer the cheaper ones, we found that there are those selling it for less than RM5 which they can go for. So it’s okay; it’s all customers’ choices,” said Nanta at a press conference at Majma Mall after spot-checking several pharmacies and retail stores selling self-test kits and facial masks.
On the spot checks, he expressed satisfactory outcome as the prices set by pharmacies and retail stores were less than RM10 for each test kit, which is under the ceiling price of RM19.90.
Apart from spot-checking retail outlets, Nanta also visited several goldsmith shops in conjunction with Ops Bling, a KPDNHEP operation, to ensure gold items sold in goldsmith outlets were what was claimed.
The customers, Nanta said, could check the contents of the gold items, whether the purity was 916 or 999, by using a gold purity tester. — DayakDaily
