Three of South Africa’s largest private laboratories have denied allegations of excessive pricing for COVID-19 PCR tests.

Lancet, Ampath and Pathcare private laboratories appeared before the Competition Tribunal in Pretoria on Wednesday.

In 2021, the Competition Commission investigation found that laboratories were still charging high fees despite decreasing associated costs.

This resulted in the laboratories agreeing to lower their prices for COVID-19 PCR and rapid antigen tests.

The Health Funders Association and 36 medical schemes referred the case to the Competition Tribunal. The association and others allege that the excessive price hikes caused medical schemes to suffer harm.

They also intend to approach the High Court for damages claims. They feel that the laboratories in question are guilty of excessive pricing of the PCR COVID-19 tests.

But, Ampath Laboratories denies these allegations and says the Competition Commission’s conclusion on this matter is not based on all the facts.

Ampath also wants the case dismissed.

Senior Counsel, Greta Engelbrecht, representing Ampath elaborates, “The difficulty chair, with respect, is that the commission didn’t put up facts. The fact that the commission puts up is R850 and it puts up that there is now an agreement for R500. The rest of it, “are those not facts?” Those are the only two facts, you charge this and you’re agreeing to charge this now, that is it. The rest is all conclusionary statements but we don’t know what underlies it. We don’t know what the price was.”

But, Senior Counsel Mike van der Nest representing the Health Funders Association, says this case must be heard. Van der Nest says this will give the laboratories an opportunity to prove that they were not in the wrong during that period of the pandemic.

“There is a fact that they were charging R850, there is a fact that they agreed to lower it to R500. If they are going to say R500 even though they agreed to it they were not profitable. Those are the facts that they can put that up. If they say the commission was wrong that our cost decreased, they can put that up. The commission was wrong that our profitability increased particularly, especially in 2021, those are the facts that they can put up, we can’t put up those facts.”

But, Pathcare says it is not fair that it had to be dragged before the tribunal on a vague and embarrassing allegation.

Senior Counsel Anthony Gotz, “And we submit that it is not fair in these types of proceedings to expect us to answer a vague allegation like that “commissioner. Of cause these are the answers given in a vague and embarrassing exceptions, all the party needs to do is deny.”

Meanwhile, Lancet Senior Counsel, Michelle le Roux, says the company was coerced to reduce the prices of the tests on urgent basis at that time. She says Lancet had never agreed to the commission’s price reduction.

“My client concluded a consent agreement on an urgent basis to give effect to price reductions without delay, given the rising numbers of COVID-19 omicron infection and the consequent increase in the number of PCR, that’s page 67, page 69. You see that on the 8th of December 2021, the commission sent letters to Ampath and Lancet to immediately reduce the cost of COVID-19 PCR tests to no more than R500 inclusive of VAT, failing which it would launch an urgent application in the tribunal for appropriate relief and the reduction of COVID-19 PCR tests to R500 inclusive of VAT.”

Judgment has been reserved and will be communicated in due course.