LIVE | ‘Competition for laboratories at the expense of corona test’ | Inland

Why will a cotton swab from a test street in Amsterdam go all the way to Germany, when it can also be tested at a lab around the corner? One of the causes that the system crashes is the way in which the tests are distributed among the laboratories, according to research by Nieuwsuur. As a result, large labs are still not fully utilized, while smaller labs regularly ‘run over’ and have to forward their tests to other labs. This makes the already complex puzzle surrounding the test policy even more complicated.

Before the corona crisis, there were a relatively large number of laboratories in the Netherlands: a number of large and many smaller ones. They compete fiercely with each other. And that battle became clearly visible during the corona crisis.

The established hospital labs fear for their position and revenue if they have to compete with large independent labs, according to a letter sent to its members by the advocacy group of physician microbiologists in July. The association writes in it that it fears that the large independent laboratories will attract the discussion about scaling up with the argument of ‘cheap testing’ during the corona crisis.

Care economist Xander Koolman does not think the way in which the tests are now distributed makes sense. “Actually the bigger laboratories should get a bigger share of the market. This is now prevented by this distribution system. ”

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Read the corona news here Wednesday 2 September

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