We can’t say we’re impressed by the decision taken by some entities that provide COVID-19 tests to slash their prices by more than 50 per cent.

For, had it not been for this newspaper’s spotlight on the callous overcharging and the subsequent cry of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica for affordable and wide-scale availability of rapid COVID-19 testing, Jamaicans would today still be forced to contribute to the exorbitant profits being made by providers of a vital service.

In fact, even with the price cuts announced last weekend, the costs are still prohibitive to many Jamaicans.

Readers will recall that in our first story on this issue in September we had reported a doctor explaining that labs here are purchasing test kits for as much as $47,000 and reselling them for $2,500 per test to unapproved labs. Each kit contains 25 tests; therefore, at $2,500 per test, the resale value is $62,500.

“That’s the first profit,” the doctor told us. “From there, additional mark-ups are applied to the cost of testing, squeezing consumers dry.”

Additionally, last week we reported Dr Carolyn Gomes, a board member of the Global Fund for HTB and Malaria, lamenting that she has had very little success trying to encourage the Government to make greater use of antigen rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 developed with funding from the Global Fund and a partner organisation.

The value in using this type of test is that it would cost Jamaicans significantly less to get tested which, in turn, would encourage more people to determine their novel coronavirus status.

Dr Gomes had noted that Jamaica is not meeting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) minimum standard of testing one person per thousand population per day, which can be achieved by wide use of the antigen tests to determine the state of the epidemic and to test everyone who is potentially positive for the virus.

According to Dr Gomes, the ministry, by not embracing that WHO recommendation, has effectively limited testing to people “who have money and can afford to pay anywhere between US$20 and US$50, sometimes more”.

Since then, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has indicated that he was willing to meet with Dr Gomes on this matter as he was of the view that the Government needs to do something about the high cost of testing.

It shouldn’t have taken this long.

Dr Tufton did point out that the Government provides free testing in the public health system, and while we acknowledge that, the fact is there will be greater benefit if more outlets are providing either free or affordable testing. For there is no doubt that testing costs have created hesitance among the general population, particularly among people without the economic means to pay.

Dr Gomes has told us that the test kits she has been trying to get the Government to use are pre-qualified by the WHO. If that is so — and we have no reason to doubt her — then the Health and Wellness Ministry should start making arrangements for their availability here.

Other jurisdictions are way down the track on the issue of COVID-19 testing, while our health authorities remain stuck in the thinking that informed their decisions at the start of the pandemic last year.

It’s time for smart thinking and action that will get the country moving in the right direction.