ICC Conducts Initiative Study Against Alleged Violations of Rapid Test Services to Diagnose Covid-19 Committed By Hospitals.

Indonesia Competition Commission (ICC) has decided to conduct initiative study towards Rapid Test Services to diagnose Covid-19 perpetrated by hospitals. The Decision is being carried out in line with the commitment of ICC to continue working to oversee business competition although being in a state of work from home.

The said initiative is started based on the information conveyed by the public who complains about the offering of Covid-19 Rapid Test services on a package basis as conducted by several hospitals. This has caused the price of services offered to skyrocket. The findings of ICC with regard to the package price offered by hospitals vary ranging from IDR 500.000 to even IDR 5.7 million for one-time testing. The value surely confines the capability of the public to purchase the rapid test services.

ICC member, Guntur S. Saragih, explained: “We receive a lot of information that there are some hospitals offering rapid test services that are followed by the offering of another medical service package when someone wishes to undergo an initial screening of Covid-19.  This is rather harmful to the public intending to undergo a rapid test of the virus.”

The initiative study has been commenced as from April 13, 2020 by the Directorate of Investigation. This initiative study becomes a priority at ICC in order to be able to obtain results in a near future. If indeed the results of this study indicate the existence of a proof of violation, then, the subsequent stage to be taken will be pre-investigation proceedings.

“ICC will give priority to this study in order to be resolvable in a near future. At the moment, we still gathering data within the scope of the Greater Jakarta and some regions under the supervision of the Regional Offices of ICC. If there is at least one instrument of proof, we will proceed to the pre-investigation stage,” uttered Director of Investigation of ICC, Gopprera Panggabean.

This initiative study focuses on the deepening whether the offering of the additional service package to obtain rapid test services constitutes a mandatory complementary product or not. ICC will also delve deeply into if such service package constitutes something needed for the whole results of the Covid-19 diagnosis without paying attention to whatever the result of the rapid test is. If the complementary product is not complementary in nature, then, this will have the potential to infringe the norm of article 15 paragraph (2) of Law No. 5 Year 1999, continued Gopprera.

ICC hopes that every party does not violate Law No. 5/1999, especially during the state of national disaster of the Covid-19 pandemic. In such a condition as we are undergoing now, testing through rapid tests is badly needed in order to support the efforts made by the government of Indonesia in fighting and reducing the spread of the virus. Therefore, ICC encourages the public to make a report if there is an alleged violation of Law No. 5/1999. May this national disaster of Covid-10 pandemic be coped with immediately.

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Remarks:

Article 15 paragraph (2) of Law No. 5/1999:

Business actors shall be prohibited from entering into agreements with other parties setting forth the condition that the party receiving certain goods and or services must be prepared to purchase other goods and or services from the supplying business actor.