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Make PCR test free
Unless mandated and paid for by the government, most people will likely avoid taking the PCR test.
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Health workers perform a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on a bus driver at Tegal bus station in Central Java, on Dec. 17, 2020. (Antara/Oky Lukmansyah)
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s horrified as we are at the surge in the COVID-19 infection and death rates these past few weeks, there is a strong nagging feeling that the official statistics do not tell the whole story and that the reality is much worse than the government is willing to admit.
One indicator of this is that Indonesia is not doing enough COVID-19 tests which would give us a better approximation of how many people are infected. The daily number of tests surpassed the 200,000 level only twice in the past week. It never made the 324,000 targeted by the government during the emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat), which began on July 3.
Going by the World Health Organization's calculation, with a population of 270 million, Indonesia should be conducting more than 500,000 tests each day when the positivity rate — the percentage of all tests performed that come back positive — hits above 25 percent.
Saturday's figures from the national COVID-19 task force show the positivity rate was 25.2 percent. But if we count only the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the rapid molecular tests, and exclude the antigen test, the rate soars to 43.7 percent. The PCR test is the one used to determine if you have the virus. If you do the antigen test, you still need to take a PCR test to confirm if you are positive.
Here lies the problem. The PCR test is not always readily available, unless you are willing to fork out up to Rp 800,000 (US$55). And if you test positive, other members of your household will have to take the test too. For most people in Indonesia, it could get very expensive.
The government claims that people can get the PCR test for free at local community health centers (Puskesmas). But even if they are available — often they are not — getting tested comes with stringent requirements and involves a lengthy process. Unless mandated and paid for by the government, most people will likely avoid taking the PCR test.
There is the option of paying for the PCR test, which many people with the means have done. With private companies offering the test for between Rp 500,000 and Rp 800,000, this suggests there is business competition and that some people are making a handsome profit during the pandemic. We have all heard this before with other types of COVID-19 tests in the past.
So much for the government’s “Three T’s” slogan — testing, tracing and treatment — in fighting the pandemic. As long as testing is not readily available and it is not free, contact tracing and treatment cannot happen effectively. The government’s daily new infection number is likely off by the thousands.
We cannot break the chain of virus transmission if we do not even know how many people are infected. The government’s COVID-19 policies, including when it decides to ease the mobility restrictions, rely on having more accurate data.
When launching the PPKM Darurat this month, the government said it would ramp up the number of tests to beat the pandemic. As Indonesia goes through this crisis, making the PCR tests free and easily available for everyone could help the government achieve its test target.
