The Federación de Consumidores en Acción (consumer protection federation) has found a difference in pricing of 102% for antigene, self-testing kits in Spain.

They compared prices in 150 different pharmacies on Wednesday within Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia and Vitoria.

For this reason they are calling on the Health Minister for the Central Government, Carolina Darias, to regulate these varying prices.

The Secretary General of FACUA, Rubén Sánchez, pointed out that there is a huge shortage because only 5 of the 150 pharmacies visited actually had any kits for sale.

In the case of Sevilla, only one pharmacy of the 30 such establishments consulted they have any kits, which were going for 6.50 euros. In Madrid there was only one pharmacy and they were charged at 8.0 euros whilst in Barcelona not one of the 30 pharmacies visited had any kits for sale.

The residents of Vitoria were luckier because there were two pharmacies with one selling them at seven euros and the other at ten euros.

The reason that kits have evaporated off the shelves is because everybody is last-minute buying for Christmas Eve get-togethers, either with families or with friends.

The fact is prices are going up rapidly and that is not entirely the fault of pharmacies but is more the case of these test-kit producers and suppliers.

This is not a case of déjà vu because exactly the same did happen with surgical-mask supplies and it was only the belated decision of the Central Government to regulate prices that solved the situation. The difference is that when the pandemic struck there simply was not the production in place on a global scale to provide the simultaneous demand for these masks. The same cannot be said in the case of the antigene test kits.

FACUA insists that the Central Government puts a cap on kit prices instead of leaving the 17 different regional governments to do it, which would lead to 17 different cap prices, no doubt.

(News: Spain)