Twenty percent of 2021 coronavirus testing budget used up
Around €20 million, out of a total of €100 million, budgeted for coronavirus testing in Estonia has been spent so far. According to the contract established last November, the cost of state tender could rise to the full €100 million by the end of the year, the Health Board (Terviseamet) doesn't consider this necessary.
The Health Board said that from last November to the start of this week i.e. three months, €18 million has been allocated for coronavirus tests. "We forecast that the €100 million would be enough until the end of the year," press representative of the board, Kirsi Pruudel, said.
Pruudel noted that the total number of tests has risen during that time. "It mainly depends on how much are the family doctors issue consignment notes and how much do the close-contacts want to test themselves at the end of the quarantine period," she said.
At the beginning of the contract, which was drawn up in the second half of November, around 5,000 tests were taken per day; in February, the number exceeded 7,500 at times.
The Health Board signed a contract valid through to the end of 2021, in November last year, to test people for the SARS-CoV2. The winners of the procurement organized by the National Support Services Center (RTK) were Synlab and Medicum.
The winner of the procurement had to be able to organize coronavirus testing all over Estonia, create and serve testing points, offer a mobile testing brigade service for testing at the patient's home and, if necessary, form a special unit for testing in nursing homes and other institutions. The contract also includes the transport and analysis of tests and the communication of results to patients.
Last autumn, the RTK announced a procurement for people to perform coronavirus tests, as the volume of the previous contract began to be fulfilled.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino