Gov’t to reduce coronavirus test fee at KIA to US$50 – Health Minister-nominee

Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, President Akufo-Addo’s nominee for Minister for Health, has hinted that President Nana Akufo-Addo has instructed that the fee for COVID-19 tests at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) be reduced.

The price of the test at KIA is currently at US$150, but per the government’s new directive, the fee will be reduced to $50.

The Minister made this known to parliamentarians on Friday, January 29.

He did not indicate when the reduction will take effect.

This directive comes on the back of an agreement by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) last week to cap the fee for testing within the sub-region.

On Friday, three MPs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (NDC- North Tongu MP); Laadi Ayii Ayamba (NDC- Pusiga) and Lydia Seyram Alhassan (NPP- Ayawaso West Wuogon), raised concerns about the havoc caused by Coronavirus in the country and the cost associated with testing at the airport.

But Kwaku Agyemang-Manu assured the house, “The president has actually given orders that we should quickly make implementation modalities to see how best this can be implemented in our country. I believe if anything at all, equal citizens will be able to access the $50 at the airport agreed by the ECOWAS community.”

Kwaku Agyemang-Manu explained that the $150 hitherto charged was not just fixed for nothing, but that the infrastructure that was put at the airport to try and do this test efficiently was “quite unparalleled around the whole world”.