The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has set the price of rapid COVID-19 tests in private health facilities to not exceed 50 Riyals for examination, after allowing private sector facilities to conduct two new types of tests for detecting the virus, namely Rapid Antibodies and Antigens.

MOPH explained that allowing the private sector to conduct these types of tests is part of it’s plan for the private health sector’s participation in combating COVID-19 pandemic, pointing out that the Ministry allowed the private sector for a long time to conduct a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, so that there will be three COVID-19 tests that can be carried out in the private sector.

It is noteworthy that the Rapid Antigens test provides quick and reasonably accurate results to detect infection with the COVID-19, and is conducted for several purposes, including assessing the condition of the patient who shows respiratory symptoms and in the preparatory stage prior to entering the patient into the hospital for minor surgical procedures. The rapid test of antigens includes a swab through the nose and the results of this test usually appear within 15 minutes.

Source: Government of Qatar